Bulldozed: Romney's boyhood home now just a memory

Mike O'Brien of NBCpolitics.com writes:

DETRIOT -- All that's left of Mitt Romney's boyhood home is an empty lot, his family's old house in Detroit's Palmer Woods neighborhood having been bulldozed two years ago in May.

The Romney family home fell victim to a familiar predator in the city of Detroit: abandonment and blight. The city ordered the demolition of the home, at 1860 Balmoral Drive, in 2010 as part of an initiative to address blight throughout the city.

Romney has made frequent mention of his roots in southeast Michigan during his campaigning before Tuesday's primary in the state. He elaborated on the fate of his boyhood home, in which the family lived until 1953 according to the Boston Globe, at a stop Thursday evening in Milford:

 "I was born in Detroit, Harper Hospital, our home was right around six-mile and Woodward, a place called Palmer Park. And uh, we had a home there. It’s been bulldozed now because it turned, I guess, into an eyesore or a place where drugs were being used so they had to tear it down. It was a lovely home."

 It's a different portrait of the property painted in an Associated Press story about the demolition:

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

 The Palmer Woods neighborhood is hardly a portrait of poverty or disrepair; most of the homes in the community are well maintained and worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, even in a depressed housing market. A golf course and the University of Detroit Jesuit high school, an all boys' Catholic prep school, are nearby. A more familiar sight of abandoned and crumbling storefronts stand across Woodward Avenue at 7 Mile, opposite the east end of Palmer Woods.

 Len and Barb Marshick of Belleville, Mich. said at a Friday night rally for Rick Santorum, Romney's main opponent in the Michigan primary, that they drove by the Balmoral Drive property during its demolition. They bemoaned the destruction of the link between the would-be president and the community that raised him.

 "Romney hasn’t lived here for so long, I just don’t think the average person thinks he’s a Michigan guy," Barb said.

Slideshow: Mitt Romney

Story: Romney begins closing arguements in Michigan