Boston Mayor Thomas Menino raised hackles this week when he told a national newspaper that Detroit should really reevaluate its politics and policy and enact some major reforms.
Only he said it differently. To The New York Times, Mr. Menino said that if he lived in Detroit, he’d “blow up the place and start all over.”
Detroit, predictably perhaps, was offended.
Detroit Mayor David Bing responded with an invitation for Mr. Menino to come visit — and a spokeswoman for the Boston leader, meanwhile, said he’d love to go.
Mr. Menino is known in Boston as “the urban mechanic,” said Dot Joyce, his spokeswoman, in The Times report on Wednesday. “He would love to go to Detroit. … I think the Motor City needs a mechanic.”
The Boston mayor also said he didn’t mean to cause offense with his comment.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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