SubX.News Street Reports Aug 13, 2025
The late afternoon started with a run through the heart of downtown — the 4:30 p.m. live update on Chicago’s collapsing economy, the city’s crime spiral, and the migrant situation that keeps spilling into every neighborhood.
The skyline looked good from a distance, but up close the sidewalks told the truth: boarded storefronts, open drug dealing, CTA chaos, and city crews focusing more on theater than service.
You see all this and they still tell you ‘crime is down.’
Chicago’s streets in view, the contradictions on display. Sirens rolling while the Mayor’s office still clings to the line that “crime is down.”
But if you want to know what’s really down, look past the slogans — look at the neighborhoods, the culture, the city’s history now being paved over.
This week, the Park District’s master plan slipped another blade between the ribs of working-class Chicago. In Grant Park, the historic 16-inch softball diamonds — part of the city’s DNA for over a century — are being rebranded as “festival grounds.”
Translation: less space for Chicagoans, more space for corporate beer tents and tourist cash grabs. While people are getting shot in real time, City Hall is erasing the fields where generations played, pushing out residents for a quick buck.
It wasn’t always this way. Even before Chicago was incorporated, its leaders declared the lakefront “Public Ground — A Common to Remain Forever Open, Clear, and Free of Any Building, or Other Obstruction Whatever,” setting a precedent for public access.
Parks were created as the “lungs of the city,” meant to give residents air, space, and a common ground to gather — not as leverage for corporate sponsorships.
The core motivation was to provide essential green spaces, recreational opportunities, and public health benefits for the city’s residents.
As we can clearly see, the so-called progressive Mayor believes that money comes first and constituents come last.
The corporate agenda takes priority, even if it means selling off the city’s history one field, one neighborhood, one public space at a time.
And while City Hall reworks maps and sells naming rights, the streets write their own agenda — crime touching every corner of the city, from the lakefront to the far edges.
South Side scanner chatter cut into the ride — a fight at Wadsworth School, about fifteen kids swinging at each other before staff and security got in between them.
That was barely cooling off when an “officer needs assistance” came across from Austin and 64th Place. Someone had tried to run an officer over with a car. Sirens tore through the radio, backup piling in.
Northwest Side — Belmont and Washtenaw. Auto theft in progress, suspects working on a blue Corvette in daylight like they owned it. No subtlety, no fear.
Then the 12th District lit up — Jackson and Racine, a stabbing call, Zone 3 dispatch moving units fast. The air shifted. That low tone you know when things are going bad. Not long after, an EMS 10-1 at 1810 South Blue Island, medics in trouble, calling for help.
The South Shore feed broke in with something almost absurd — looting the Dollar Tree at 71st and Stony Island. Three males stuffing bags with candy like it was cash. “They’ll let ‘em walk, you know they will,” one voice cracked over the scanner.
By early evening, the run through Pilsen caught its own kind of street economy:
They got Mondos out here pushing the dope even here in Pilsen.
No corner of the city’s immune. A few blocks later — the silos, another empty hulk with one more building to check off before it all goes to dust.
The north side was no calmer.
Trouble at the migrant shelter on Irving and Marine Drive — an 18-year-old armed with a knife refusing to leave.
In Bridgeport, a bus and car had met badly at Archer and Halsted around 7 p.m. Traffic choked the intersection, CTA riders standing on the curb staring at the mess.
Then came the call that pulled everything tight — shooting at 28th between Wabash and State. A 37-year-old man hit in both legs, lying near the sidewalk. Witnesses saw two male suspects run into 2240 South State.
Out west, worse news.
The killing of 42-year-old Kevin Watson — “Tugg” — on the 5000 block of West Madison. He was on Facebook Live when an unknown car rolled up, a gun came out, and a round hit his chest. He went down right there in the lot.
Mt. Sinai couldn’t bring him back.
Same corner that saw a homicide back in March.
Another West Side broadcast made it brutal:
Guy gets shot while on live during an attempted robbery.
Safe Zones became shooting zones as the night didn’t slow down.
Two teenagers were gunned down in Kelly Park in the Brighton Park neighborhood — a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old — both with multiple gunshot wounds. Neither wanted to talk to police.
Later, the gunfire followed into the 11th District — an 18-year-old shot in the thigh while walking the 4000 block of West Maypole.
He made it to Mt. Sinai in good condition, but like the others, no one’s talking.
City Hall called it business as usual.
Here, that means gunfire, sirens, and lives erased while the Mayor calls it progress.
References
Live Video Chicago economy crime and migrant update 4:30 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/v/16iVHWcRBU/
About 15 kids fighting at Wadsworth School on the South Side 5:19 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/1LYq3Lsez4/
Officer Needs Assistance — attempted assault with vehicle Austin & 64th Place 5:24 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/1ZZeGppyGz/
Auto theft in progress, blue Corvette, Belmont & Washtenaw 5:26 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/1BGQoCLH7C/
Jackson/Racine stabbing call (D12 Z3) 5:29 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/19h5DL5iz3/
EMS 10-1, 1810 South Blue Island 6:01 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/16huwnb6dW/
Looting Dollar Tree for candy, 71st & Stony Island 6:03 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/1Ha8yypvdL/
Drug dealing in Pilsen 6:20 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/1CL9r5Sdxr/
Silo building demolition check 6:36 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/p/179KRJmhwe/
Trouble at migrant shelter, Irving & Marine Drive — knife incident 7:08 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/v/19j6TdmQtJ/
Bus vs car crash, Archer & Halsted ~7:00 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/v/1XvMaJX4QW/
Person Shot — 28th St. between Wabash & State 5:58 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/SubX.News/posts/pfbid0JgLDE9YTXbD9fB8wGpCe9GxJEohwXtMWWqPNGW7F2H1Ksmyk4M9WYFQCp9PuMmJJl
Homicide — Kevin Watson (“Tugg”) killed on Facebook Live, 5000 W Madison 6:14 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GmzSHfDLQ/
Same location as March 19, 2025 homicide https://facebook.com/share/v/174xGYNxK5/
West Side live-stream shooting during attempted robbery 8/13/25 https://facebook.com/share/v/1JnEcvMxz6/
Two men shot, Kelly Park — 2725 W 41st St 8:44 p.m. August 13, 2025 https://facebook.com/share/v/1BPHtDxV81/
Loop North News – Park District master plan turns historic softball fields into festival grounds (11 Aug 2025) https://loopnorth.com/news/softball0811.htm
Media Major Incident Notifications
Person Shot (m37) 0-100 block of E. 28th St. (13 Aug 2025, approx. 5:58 p.m.)
Homicide (m42) 5000 block of W. Madison (13 Aug 2025, approx. 6:14 p.m.)
Persons Shot (m19, m17) 4200 block of S. Fairfield Ave (13 Aug 2025, approx. 8:43 p.m.)
Person Shot (m18) 4000 block of W. Maypole (13 Aug 2025, approx. 10:40 p.m.)
Caption Homicide Person Shot … 42-yr-old Kevin Watson a.k.a “Tugg” has been identified as the male shot & killed while on Facebook Live out west Aug 13 2025
SubX.News® on-the-spot reporting
