Parents organize own gathering in response to planned ‘teen takeover’
By Craig Wall and Tre Ward
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CHICAGO (WLS) — Residents and businesses in Hyde Park braced for another planned “teen takeover,” that, so far, has not happened on Tuesday night.
It was scheduled to begin around 5:30 p.m. ABC7 is told that police are present, but they are apparently spread out to monitor as many parts of the community as possible. As of 10 p.m., there is no word of any problems.
“When there are more people out, that can help to de-escalate, and perhaps, eliminate some of the activities that we saw,” said Hyde Park resident Bennie Currie. “This is the first of the effort, and we’re hoping to do more of that because summer hasn’t come yet and we want to continue to do this.”
In response to the takeover plans, a couple of business owners organized and promoted their own adult takeover, speaking with young people in hopes to quell plans for a teen trend.
“Have fun. Come out, kick it, do your thing, but do not destroy. Don’t have you can have fun without damaging anything, and it’s only if, I know, it’s a small group that does it… Pass a word to them, also letting them know that, hey man, that type of activity is not welcome here,” said 2nd District Community Council member Marquinn McDonald.
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.
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.
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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