At 13th and Sycamore streets in Over-the-Rhine at noon Thursday, there were a few signs of this week's rioting. Broken glass, hubcaps and other debris littered the concrete deck of Ziegler Pool.

        In the adjacent park, 23-year-old Rhonda Reyes pushed her two sons on the swings. The locust and pear trees were in bloom.

        “Just trying to get them some fresh air before we have to be in for the curfew,” Ms. Reyes said.

        Throughout this neighborhood of 9,572 people, where most of the rioting has unfolded, people tried to live normally Thursday.

        Neighbors played chess on a stoop. A white woman and black woman talked on the sidewalk in front of their apartment building. A mail carrier walked his route near Washington Park.

        But all around, there were signs of mayhem.

        At the Drop-Inn Center Shelter House, doors were open 24 hours. Medical services had been expanded to treat residents who, in the words of shelter director Pat Clifford, “had been caught in the police crossfire and been hit with rubber bullets and tear gas.”

        “Dozens of people, including 8- and 10-year-old children, were hit,” Mr. Clifford said. “It seems a lot of what the police are trying is not de-escalating the problem.”

        The neighborhood was bracing for a fourth night of violence.

        Up and down Main Street, merchants replaced broken windows with plywood. The regular lunch crowd from Hamilton County's courthouse and human services office was missing.

        Several businesses were closed. Many of the neighborhood's churches had locked their offices.

        In the 1500 block of Race Street, not far from Findlay Market, Stanley Durrett and his wife were moving out.

        The past four days were the last straw.

        It was 11:30 a.m. as Mr. Durrett and his brother, the Rev. David Durrett, carried a couch down the steps from the second-floor apartment.

        “Some areas of town are hotter than others,” said Mr. Durrett, 45, who is African-American. “A lot of people will be waking up in about two hours, and then it's "let the fun begin.'”

        Mr. Durrett works as a carpenter rehabbing buildings. He was borrowing his bosses' pickup to move.

        “I've always come home from work and walked right in. I go to the store and walk right home. We've never bothered anybody, but I can't take any more,” he said.

        Tuesday afternoon was the turning point.

        “Between the bottles, breaking glass, swearing, yelling, screaming, I prayed for God to do something,” he said. “It rained for three hours. When it was over, it was quiet. God answers prayers.”

        The respite wasn't enough to prevent him from moving — and not saying where he was going.

        Back across the neighborhood, Ms. Reyes also was talking about moving, back to her native New York City. She moved to Cincinnati because she "thought it was safer.”

        She and Steve Summerlin, 32, the father of her children, are engaged. He works as a security guard in a Main Street night club. It was already closed Thursday night because of damage, but he fears for his job because of the curfew.

        “It's going to hurt business,” he said.

        “We already are stereotyped,” said Ms. Reyes, who, like her fiance, is black. “The black people who are doing this rioting, they're only making it worse.”

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Hardest hit areas (288k) | Violent week's timeline (320k)
Curfew restores calm
How curfew works
List of cancellations
Good Friday traditions disrupted
NAACP leader calls for justice
Petty traffic citations built up to fatal confrontation
Police 'fed up,' union chief says
Injured officer returns to job
Quiet streets best remedy for tired cops
Curfew shuts down nightlife
Mayor's decision draws criticism
Most grudgingly accept curfew
Curfew brings sounds of silence
Sports disrupted by curfew
Curfew doesn't affect Reds yet
Griffey 'understands' rioters' frustrations
Over-the-Rhine residents express dismay
Suburban reaction more disgust than alarm
Dangers add new fears for children
Merchants focus on reopening
Big businesses offer aid, jobs
RADEL: Teaching peace is essential
Religious leaders call for listening, change
Bush offers to help
Federal officials here over unrest
National media turns spotlight on Cincinnati
New hot line to report crime
Police move with the crowds
Prosecutor vows to get tough with rioters
Special grand jury to hear case
Thomas service moved to handle larger crowd