SubX.News® Street Report – April 8, 2026
While the Chicago Board of Education spent its afternoon arguing about a federal Trump-backed tax‑credit program, the rest of the city was busy bleeding, crashing, and dodging potholes.
On paper, the board meeting was about “education policy” and “values.”
In practice, it was another example of people in a room talking national politics while the streets they’re responsible for go on without them.
During Wednesday’s meeting, the board took up a resolution calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to reject a new federal program that offers tax breaks for donations to private‑school scholarships and some public‑school costs.
The vote was symbolic.
The debate around it showed a bigger problem.
Board member Ellen Rosenfeld tried to pull the conversation back to earth.
Politics don’t belong in the boardroom, she said.
She listed what she actually wanted to talk about: student learning, student voice, chronic absenteeism, student safety.
Then she drew a line:
I will never support a resolution that is simply politically motivated. It is not our job.
Board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith didn’t bother dressing it up. He just ran the numbers.
About 54% of the board’s time is being spent on politics and government issues.
Only 14% on student outcomes.
Both he and Rosenfeld ended up abstaining on the vote. The resolution still passed.
So that’s one side of the split screen: an elected board burning more than half its time on a fight over a federal program it doesn’t control.
Kanyae “KJ” Franklin, 16, was murdered in a hail of gunfire outside Christ Bible Church of Chicago, 7877 S. Coles—about 15 rifle casings and four handgun casings on the ground—and didn’t make the agenda.
Gates on “Public” Parks
Step outside that boardroom and look at what the same city has done with its own public space.
Up and down the lakefront, a lot of Chicago parks don’t feel public anymore.
You don’t just walk in—you walk up to a gate.
What used to be open parkland is now fenced off.
You line up at an entrance, roll past a camera that grabs your plate, and then you pay for the privilege of standing on land your taxes already funded.
The first thing you see at the park isn’t the trees or the lake. It’s a gate, a fee, and a record that you were there.
The hypocrisy writes itself: the same “progressive” City Hall that claims it’s fighting for the people is the one that put fences around the parks and started charging people to get in.
Public in the speeches. Paywall on the ground.
A Different World, a Few Miles Away
Not everywhere looked like that.
Later that evening, up in Winnetka, people were walking along the lakefront at sunset on clean sand with no sirens in the background.
No fences, no gates, no one scanning your plates at the entrance.
Cobblestone streets and quiet blocks felt like a postcard.
Same metro area. Same night.
The difference is what the system chooses to maintain—and who it decides has to go through a gate just to touch the water.
What the Scanner Heard
Back in the city, the radio was telling a different story.
On the Southwest Side, around 5:28 p.m., an AAA tow-truck driver was the subject of a road-rage call at Claremont and 68th. The person who’s supposed to save you when your car breaks down was the one making the situation worse.
By 7:08 p.m., at 25th and Michigan, there was a call for a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Dispatch tagged it as already backlogged. In other words, even that kind of call had to wait its turn.
Nine minutes later, at 97th and Exchange, the radio carried another simple message: “Person shot.” No statement. No podium. Just another location and another body.
Downtown, near Van Buren and Dearborn in the heart of the government district, a large fight spilled into the street around 7:28 p.m. Courthouses on one side, transit hubs on the other, and still nobody in real control of the sidewalk.
Farther south, near 452 East 88th Place just before midnight, a woman was shot in crossfire. On the East Side, a stolen vehicle was recovered in an alley near 79th and Stony Island a short time later.
The Road Fights Back
It wasn’t just people taking damage.
Around 10:25 p.m., a call came over the air about a major pothole on the Belmont ramp off Lake Shore Drive.
At least six cars had already been wrecked hitting the same crater.
By the time I got there after midnight, the hole was still in the lane.
The city hadn’t fixed it.
The damage was already done. Those drivers will now work it out with their insurance companies and bank accounts.
The ramp stays open. The bills go home.
After Midnight
The pattern didn’t change.
On the Far South Side, near East 115th Street, a burglary car crashed under a bridge after a chase.
State Police took two people into custody. Another car that started as transportation and ended up as wreckage.
Just after that, an abandoned smashed up car in the wrong direction inside Jackson Park. Not ticketed, not towed, but if this is a tourist car by Millennium Park it be towed within a minute.
No tow truck. No tape. No rush.
What Moves, What Stays
If you’ve spent any time downtown, you already know the city can move fast when it wants to.
We’ve documented cars towed in real time near Millennium Park—tourist rentals hooked while the driver is still trying to pay, tickets written after the truck already has the wheels in the air.
The city can be brutally efficient when there’s easy revenue and high visibility on the line.
Out in the neighborhoods, it’s different:
- Pothole that wrecks six cars sits long enough for me to show up hours later and film it.
- Stolen or crime‑linked vehicle can sit in a park area, smashed and pointing the wrong way, with no immediate tow or investigation visible on scene.
- Gunshot calls get labeled “backlogged.”
- Fight that breaks out in front of courthouses and government offices without anyone preventing it.
Meanwhile, a huge chunk of the official energy is being spent on resolutions about a federal tax‑credit program.
City budgets say “public safety” and “education” are priorities.
Board meeting agendas say the same. But the scanner, the streets, and the wreckage tell a different story.
What gets moved quickly and what is allowed to sit there, broken and ignored, shows you more about real priorities than any vote, resolution, or press release ever will.
You can hear it in Marquettia Johnson’s voice when she spoke at the CTA board meeting. Her husband, Raymond Harrison, was murdered on the Pink Line two days before Christmas near Washington/Wells.
Raymond didn’t choose to be murdered. He just chose to get home to his family. And the CTA still hasn’t even sent condolences.
You can see it at Diversey and Kenneth, where Patrick J. Gibbons stood under a brand-new speed camera and called it exactly what it is:
These speed cameras and red-light cameras are supposed to be put by parks and schools.
There is no park and there’s no school at Diversey and Kenneth.
If you look closely, it’s a money-grabbing scheme.
And you can feel it up at Foster Beach, where the city throws up gates and pay points at the entrance, one more way to grab money while ignoring basic access, even for people with disabilities.
If you want to know what Chicago actually values, don’t just watch the boardroom.
Listen to the radio. Look at the streets.
See what the city refuses to pick up:
a smashed criminal car that sits at midnight abandoned in the opposite direction of traffic in front of the
ACKSON PAR FI LD OUSE
a block away from the $1.55 billion Obama Library …
Image: Abandoned smashed up criminal car in the wrong direction inside Jackson Park at 64th and Cornell 1210am April 9th 2026 http://SubX.News®
Editor’s Note: This report is based on a live feed video drive on April 8, 2026 and live broadcast radio, police traffic, and independent scanner feeds:
Chicago economy crime and migrant update 4pm April 8th 2026 https://youtu.be/LeRxs3-hDaw
7877 S Coles Christ Bible Church Of Chicago ~15 rifle casings 4 handgun casings Victim male black 16-20 pronounced ME2026-01831 https://x.com/Ace_chicago/status/2041590491196649711…
AAA Arabic tow truck driver road rage Claremont and 68th 521pm Apr 8 2026 https://facebook.com/share/r/1BRKs5k9wv/…
Maybe we need to do this in Chicago anyone without a city sticker in a city park gets towed 640pm Apr 8 2026 https://facebook.com/share/p/1BFZXHTvYk/…
Wilmette Beach 641pm Apr 8 2026 https://facebook.com/share/v/1N8M1M6L4H/…
Cobble stone Winnetka 709 pm Apr 8 2026 https://youtu.be/zq3CbqrfBXI
Elder Lane Beach Winnetka 750 pm Apr 8 2026 https://facebook.com/share/r/1CTXwvduSV/…
backlogged already shot himself in the head 25th and Michigan 710pm Apr 8 2026 https://facebook.com/share/r/18ohKrWGud/…
Person shot 97th and Exchange offending vehicle is going to be a black Chrysler Pacifica unknown plate that is the offending vehicle South on commercial from 97 717pm Apr 8 2026 https://x.com/SubxNews/status/2042035542905290820…
stolen silver Toyota Camry southbound Dan Ryan at 59th and express lane number three FD 77571 724pm Apr 8 2024 https://x.com/SubxNews/status/2042048919652184080…
Funny a few mile makes Winnetka 736pm Apr 8 2026 https://facebook.com/share/r/1CpCza69tT/…
Big fight downtown Chicago Van Buren and Dearborn 759 pm Apr 8 2026 https://x.com/SubxNews/status/2042044732784697478…
Niles Police Take E-Scooter rider into custody 935PM Apr 8 2026
https://citizen.com/-Opk56TWzlTP7_AuBT4Y…
Call of Female shot during shootout 452 East 88th place 1131pm Apr 8 2026 https://youtu.be/BR2a8oW96sE
Stolen Vehicle Recovered 7830 S Cornell 1140PM Apr 8 2026 https://citizen.com/-OpkXmL47zQd3yGPSPMi…
Abandoned smashed up criminal car in the wrong direction inside a public park not ticketed not towed but if this is a tourist car by Millennium Park it be towed within a minute 12:10 a.m. April 9th 2026 Jackson Park field house 64th and Cornell https://x.com/SubxNews/status/2042110670447993137…
Lakeshore Drive pothole at Belmont Northbound on ramp caused six cars to be damaged 12:4 0 a.m. April 9th 2026 https://x.com/SubxNews/status/2042117423478771852…
CPS Board calls on Gov Pritzker to reject federal program that funds private school tuition 628pm Apr 8 2026 https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2026/04/08/cps-board-calls-on-gov-pritzker-to-reject-federal-program-that-funds-private-school-tuition…
Marquettia Johnson the wife of CTA Pink Line shooting victim Raymond Harrison, addressed the Chicago Transit Board to demand improved safety measures on the transit system Apr 8 2026
https://instagram.com/reel/DW470ruERlY/…
Patrick J Gibbons … Money Grabbing Scheme Speed Camera was put in at Diversey and Kenneth approximately two weeks ago 1144PM Apr 6 2026
https://facebook.com/share/v/1DykJ4BJQ3/…
Park District prioritizing regressive fees and denial of access to handicap people to the public parks March 25 2016 https://x.com/SubxNews/status/2036977086657679686…
Progressive Chicago thieves stealing our park land March 25 555pm https://facebook.com/share/v/1EjexMcnfm/…
Anarcho-Tyranny … city lies to the police … they’re towing tourist cars here by Millennium Park … yet they won’t clear the streets of accidents of multiple radio calls … On top of that she tows the car and then gives the ticket 7:00 p.m. July 21st 2025
https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1947448204762427636…
Predatory towing by the city of Chicago they sit here they grab the car and they give the ticket later 613 p.m. March 30th 2026 by Millennium Park
https://facebook.com/share/v/18XppSUqan…
city is so thirsty they towing cars with people in em … Dec 1, 2023 41.889400,-87.628200 https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1730825480348033192…
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