CHICAGO (WLS) — Residents and business owners in Hyde Park were on alert Tuesday evening, anticipating a rumored “teen takeover” that ultimately did not materialize.
The event was expected to kick off around 5:30 p.m., with law enforcement officers deployed across the area to keep an eye on various parts of the community. By 10 p.m., no incidents had been reported.
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“Having more people out can help de-escalate situations and potentially prevent some of the activities we’ve seen in the past,” said Hyde Park local Bennie Currie. “This is just the beginning of our efforts. With summer approaching, we aim to maintain this strategy.”
To counter the planned gathering, some business owners initiated their own community event, engaging with young people to dissuade them from participating in disruptive activities.
“Enjoy yourselves, come out and have fun, but don’t cause destruction,” advised Marquinn McDonald, a member of the 2nd District Community Council. “You can have a good time without damaging property. It’s often just a small group causing issues, so spread the message that such behavior isn’t welcome here.”
People started seeing social media posts last week that advertised a Hyde Park takeover planned for Tuesday. The flyer encouraged participants to bring their own beer and weed. But on Tuesday night, some concerned business owners encouraged adults to bring their own selves as a deterrent.
Trez Pugh has operated his Sip and Savor coffee shop in Hyde Park for the last 14 years. He cares about this community, and what he saw during last month’s teen takeover left him feeling more than frustrated.
“It was heartbreaking, to be honest, man. I mean, it was total chaos. It was no control, no law and order, and I just felt as though something needed to be done,” Pugh said.
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At his shop, Pugh hosted a parent takeover in response.
“What we plan on doing is bringing awareness to the community. People need to know where their kids are, where their nephews or their cousins, when they out here, you know, wreaking havoc throughout the community and all that. It’s fun for them until it’s not,” Pugh said.
The parent takeover was an idea from businessman and philanthropist Early Walker, who is calling this an amber alert, if you will, for parents, with the mindset it takes a village to respond to problems like this.
“So, I’m calling for the village to come out and try to combat, you know, this whole teen trend era that we have going on. There’s no way in the world we should have a situation where kids are taking over our communities. They’re taking over our businesses. They’re damaging our property,. They’re damaging our communities,” Walker said.
READ MORE | Chicago City Council committee to take up measures on teen takeovers
Jason Hale fully supports the parent response. During the March 30 teen trend, kids ran across the top of cars, including his, causing $3,000 in damage, and his car is still in the shop. He hopes kids get the message that this kind of behavior has to stop.
“You really can’t tell them anything. You could tell them, ‘Do this, do that.’ It all comes up to their upbringing and how they were parented. If they never had accountability, and they weren’t raised right, and they weren’t raised with structure, then you telling them isn’t going to do anything,” Hale said. “I just think it’s completely out of control. It’s one thing to come and hang out, right? But it’s another thing to destroy people’s property, jump people, shooting people, all these different things. This is this is a problem. This is a crisis. And it bothers me that this is happening again, because now I’m worried about my wife’s car.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson posted a plea to parents on X, saying, “Parents, be aware of where your children are going this evening. DO NOT allow your children to attend one of these gatherings; they are dangerous and can often turn violent.”
A number of adults from Kenwood Academy were part of the adult group on Tuesday night.
“Hyde Park is an amazing area, and it’s not odd that people want to come and walk,” said Kenwood Academy High School Principal Karen Calloway. “There’s nothing wrong with that. We just want to make sure that everybody is safe.”
Some of them walked south from their initial location to meet with some of the teens who were in the neighborhood for the takeover.
“Let’s stand together. You know, if they’ve got 100 kids out here, we need to have 100 parents. If there’s 500 kids out here, we need to have 500 parents, right? Whatever it takes to combat this, and we don’t need it to be where it’s a police issue, because that’s when things go left, right?” Walker said.
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