The new commander of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Toledo said he expects his next three years in the Glass City to be a real eye-opener.

Anthony R. Migliorini and his wife, Jessica, have quickly gotten past the city’s sullied reputation as an industrial wasteland and all of the self-deprecating humor that still lingers 40 years after John Denver popularized the Randy Sparks song, “Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio.”

“Every place we’ve lived turns out to be better than people say it is,” Mrs. Migliorini told The Blade Thursday, moments after her husband was installed as the new commander during an hour-long ceremony at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in East Toledo.

She said the family, which lives in Sylvania and includes daughters Isabel and Taylor and son Tony, is eager to check out the Toledo Zoo, the Toledo Museum of Art, and other popular sites. They’re already impressed by the park system. Commander Migliorini said he is eager to make his first visit to Tony Packo’s original restaurant on Front Street, not far from the museum.

The family has never lived north of Maryland. Originally from Southern California, the Migliorinis moved to Ohio from Oklahoma City.

Lakers, to Commander Migliorini, was not a word for U.S. and Canadian vessels permanently built specifically for the Great Lakes, but the National Basketball Association team featuring star player Kobe Bryant.

All jokes aside, though, Mr. Migliorini, who was promoted from lieutenant commander to commander at Thursday’s event, said Toledo’s unique geography and role in the Great Lakes navigation system offer a great learning opportunity for Coast Guard officials.

In addition to being positioned on the Michigan-Ohio border, this area is only a few nautical miles from Canada. The types of ships that ply water here are different from those in other parts of the country, from cargo ships to icebreakers.

“I am truly humbled and honored to be here,” Commander Migliorini said.

The 60 or so civilians and numerous other Coast Guard officers and members of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection who attended Thursday’s event learned Coast Guard commanders, while fiercely devoted to military precision, are capable of a few good-humored moments as well.

Capt. Scott Lemasters, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Detroit commander, poked fun of his West Virginia roots and those of outgoing Toledo commander Charles J. Bright.

He said Commander Bright, in fact, was the only other Coast Guard officer he knew from West Virginia, theorizing that a career on the water probably doesn’t appeal to many people from a mountainous state with the highest elevation east of the Mississippi River.

Commander Bright’s wife blushed at one point, suggesting he was giving the audience too much information about a night on the town out in Washington years ago.

But there were several moments of seriousness, too, of course, with Captain Lemasters telling the outgoing commander he “nurtured that pride, professionalism, and camaraderie of MSO Toledo” during his stay.

Commander Bright is taking on a new assignment in Baltimore. Leadership is rotated every three years.

Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.

First Published July 3, 2015, 4:00 a.m.