1980s Timeline

• "...auto industry went from a loss of 4.2 billion dollars in 1980 to the fabulous 8.9 billion dollars in 1984." (Widick 245)
• 1983: "...the city had 97,000 single-parent households, about 75 percent of them black." (Widick 238)
• "For three nights in 1984-which included Halloween and the preceding night, Devil's Night- the city was plagued by 810 fires." (Widick 234)
• 1984: "An important factor that contributed to Michigan's high unemployment rate was the policy of the auto industry during its recovery to impose compulsory over-time - ten-hour days and six-day weeks- rather than rehire its unemployed. The UAW estimated that the equivalent of 95,000 jobs were 'lost' in 1984 due to overtime. The policy also created tensions between the employed and unemployed autoworkers. For the 200,000 employed autoworkers in Michigan the Detroit metropolitan area it was a period of unprecedented prosperity: those who already earned on average of $28,900 a year brought home an additional $5,000 to $10,000 in overtime pay." (Widick 245)
• "In 1985, 237 youths were wounded and 31 died from gunfire." (Widick 232)
• "In 1985, due to massive efforts by police and fire fighters, Devil's Night fires were reduced to 479." (Widick 234)
• "...in 1985 blacks in metropolitan Detroit had the highest jobless rate-28.9 percent- among those living in the nation's 30 largest metropolitan areas. For black youths 16 to 19 years of age, the unemployment rate was 60 percent. Within Detroit itself the rates were higher because of the high concentration of black population." (Widick 234)
• 1985: "...Detroit schools were more segregated in 1985 than they were in the previous 25 years. Only three of its 22 high schools had a mixed student population; the majority of students were black." (Widick 248)
• "Perhaps the saddest commentary on the state of education in Detroit was the report that one out of every four high school graduates from the class of 1985 did not pass a proficiency exam which tested minimum reading, writing and math skills." (Widick 249)
• "Observing Detroit in 1985 and 1986 gave one an inescapable sense of deja vu. The extravagant publicity surrounding plans to rebuild the city was reminiscent of 1968 when the Renaissance Center was touted as the city's hope. Once again the Renaissance Center became the centerpiece of a downtown revitalization plan and was expanded to include two twenty-one story office towers to supplement the original four 39-story office towers and the 70-story hotel. The center, which had to be reorganized in 1983 after losing 103 million dollars in three years, remaind in the red in 1985 and 1986." (Widick 246)
• "...'Detroiters have armed themselves so extensively that by one estimate there are 400,000 more guns in the city than there are people,' the Wall Street Journal Reported in 1986." (Widick 232)
• 1986: "...by the end of the year 343 youths under the age of 16 had been shot, 43 of them fatally." (Widick 232)
• "To keep the city under control in 1986 Mayor Young mobilized 5,600 police and city employees and another 5,000 citizen volunteers to patrol the city. The mayor also imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew on youths 17 years of age and under. Even with the city nearly in a state of siege, 343 arson-related fires were reported on Devil's Night, and 494 youths were held for violating curfew." (Widick 234)
• 1986: "At $115,000 a year, Young earned more than the governor of Michigan and became the highest paid chief executive in the nation's ten largest cities." (Widick 240)
• December 1986: "In this vitriolic political climate, Mayor Young, with misgivings, retreated and signed in December 1986 an ordinance that imposed a 30-day jail sentence and $100 fine for a first offense of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit. Second offenders would get 60 days plus the fine, and repeaters beyond that would get 90 days plus the fine for each offense." (Widick 233)
• December 1986 “"One of the most ambitious projects designed to draw people downtown was the construction of the 'People Mover,' a 2.9 mile overhead rail system connecting various points in the downtown enclave of buildings and hotels. It was supposed to attract 15,000 passengers daily, but in early 1987 it was averaging only 10,000 riders a day. Financed by federal, state, and local government money, the project cost over 210 million dollars including a 72 million dollar cost overrun." (Widick 247)
• 1987: "...nearly half of the [police] force was black." (Widick 241)
• 1987- on the Chrysler Bailout: Chrysler bailout further: "The losers were the cast-off autoworkers and the 20,000 white-collar employees eliminated at Chrysler...These kinds of permanent cutbacks help to explain why in 1987 40 percent of the city's residents lived below the poverty line and about 25 percent of Detroiters were unemployed." (Widick 245)
• 1987: "The Big Three posted a $9.1 billion net profit, and that did not include the increase in cash reserves. However, the gains have not been shared by the thousands of white- and blue-collar workers whose jobs have been eliminated in recent years." (Widick 254)