A Tiny Plot: "Moving Camp" EP 2

Snap Judgment

Snap Judgment and PRX

Snap, Glynn, Storytelling, Wnyc, Society & Culture/personal Journals, Performing Arts, Washington, Society & Culture/documentary, Arts/performing Arts, Music, Arts

4.8 • 11.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The standoff between Public Works and the group from Union Point Park ends with a handshake -- a deal to build a new kind of housing community funded by the city where homeless residents make their own rules. But right away, the civility of this agreement seems to break down.

And after months of waiting, the group from Union Point Park finally gets a plot of land on E12th street for their radical experiment. But there’s a big problem with the land. It's something that leaves the future of this experiment in limbo.

This episode contains strong language & graphic imagery. Please take care while listening.

A Tiny Plot is a new 5-part series from KQED’s Snap Studios. Host and Reporter Shaina Shealy takes listeners inside an encampment in Oakland for an against-all-odds story about scarcity, community, and the complexity of building something new from the margins of a broken system. What happens when people who’ve been shut out of a system that has failed them decide to take the lead? Disaster, and unexpected beauty.

Big thanks to the entire cast from A Tiny Plot for sharing your worlds with us.

Hosted and produced by Shaina Shealy. Edited by Anna Sussman, original music by Renzo Gorrio, engineering by Pat Mesiti-Miller. Director of Production: Marisa Dodge. Executive Producers: Glynn Washington and Mark Ristich. Artwork: Teo Ducot.

Specials thanks: Jen Chien, Catherine Winter, the City of Oakland, Sweetie at the Travel Inn, Ryan Finnegan, Will Craft, JP Dobrin, Thomas Brouns, Sukey Lewis, Alistair Boone, The Street Spirit, KQED legal, and Ott House Audio.

Episode 2 of 5. Episodes drop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Listen on any podcast platform, right here on Snap Judgment!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From KQED's Snap Studios. This is a tiny plot.
0:13.1	This episode contains strong language and graphic imagery. Sensitive listeners, please take care.
0:21.7	Welcome back to a tiny plot, a story told in five parts. I'm your host, Shana Shealy, and this is Chapter 2. When we left off,
0:32.9	The Shields was awesome. The residents of Union Point Park defended their encampment against the city of Oakland's eviction order,
0:39.9	with homemade shields and a barricade of broken toilets and refrigerators,
0:44.6	and they sent city cleanup crews back where they came from.
0:48.5	Man, we did something. We accomplished something.
0:51.5	Now let's see how much further we could go.
1:03.0	The standoff ended with a handshake between Daryl from the city and President Matt from Union Point Park, a deal to build a new kind of housing community, funded by the city, where homeless residents make their own rules, an experimental model called co-governance.
1:15.7	But right away, the civility of this agreement seemed to break down.
1:22.5	From KQED's SNAP Studios, I'm Shana Shealy. This is a tiny plot, Chapter 2, Moving Camp.
1:35.1	With huge relief that their hard work had paid off in anticipation for their new life to come,
1:40.9	the group took down the barricade, pulling down the couch and the rocks and the toilet.
1:46.2	My arms just felt like they was going to fall off.
1:50.0	They were so hot and numb because I couldn't move them no more.
1:55.0	As the sun went down that night, Mamadie thought she'd finally be able to relax,
2:00.3	to move out of Union Point Park on her own time, peacefully.
2:05.0	She and her neighbors slowly started packing up years' worth of supplies and equipment and things.
2:12.1	Most people weren't ready by the city's move-out deadline.
2:16.4	They weren't worried. They had this agreement, a plan to work together.
2:21.3	But the morning they were supposed to leave the park, before most residents had even woken up yet.
2:27.3	It was the chaos. It was already in full swing.
	...

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