Word: detroiters
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...exact origin of Devil's Night is unclear. People who grew up in Detroit following World War II recall kids plastering cars with toilet paper, and tossing onto porches fiery paper bags filled with feces. Huge swaths of this city burned during the 1967 riots, leaving the kind of blighted property that experts say lures prospective arsonists. John Hall, a researcher at the National Fire Prevention Association, said the presence of so many vacant properties presented the ingredients for what's known as "the broken windows syndrome." He says "when people see a collection of abandoned properties in one location...
...worldwide acclaim after setting a record at the 1960 Olympics in Rome - running barefoot - and another in Tokyo four years later wearing shoes.) Radcliffe, the 2008 New York winner, set the women's record in 2003, breaking the tape in London in 2 hr. 15 min. 25 sec. (Read "Detroit's Marathon: What Caused Three Deaths...
...dying auto industry, failing schools, rampant unemployment and a home foreclosure crisis: Detroit has no shortage of ills, but in recent years it has made progress combating the city's notorious tradition known as Devil's Night, the period leading up Halloween each year when scores of buildings would be torched. Yet earlier this month, when nearly a dozen vacant homes were set afire in the span of a weekend, authorities here feared the worst: The real estate crisis that has hit Detroit particularly hard would mean a resurgence of Devil's Night. (See pictures from the fight against Devil...
...prospective arsonists. Wooden boards have been placed across the doors and windows of vacant buildings to keep out intruders. On street posts and buildings across the city, there are signs saying, "THIS BUILDING IS BEING WATCHED," above a sketch of a set of human eyes. "Obviously, I'm nervous," Detroit's mayor, Dave Bing, said in an interview earlier this week, when asked about the possibility that homes here may become targets for arsonists as Halloween approached. "But we need to be observant, and I think our community has gotten engaged...
...Detroit officials are taking a number of steps to thwart the risk of arson. The city's fire department, for instance, has canceled off-days for most of its workforce, which has seen its ranks dwindle from 1,325 a decade ago to about 1,098 because of Detroit's financial crisis. As a result, the fire department has been overwhelmed protecting a vast territory. Bing himself visited several fire stations, restaurants and community centers in recent days to encourage residents to be vigilant about reporting suspected arsons. (See pictures of the decline of Detroit...