Snap Judgment: A Tiny Plot – "Moving Camp" (EP 2)

Date: August 26, 2025
Host: Shayna Shealy
Produced by Snap Studios & PRX

Episode Overview

In the second chapter of the five-part series "A Tiny Plot," host Shayna Shealy returns to Oakland's Union Point Park to follow the next stage in an experimental housing initiative—this time, as residents face the messy aftermath of what seemed like a groundbreaking agreement: the promise of co-governed, city-funded housing for the formerly homeless. The episode captures the chaos, broken trust, personal loss, and the emotional cost as the group is evicted, relocated to a motel, and then offered a plot of land that holds traumatic memories for one of their leaders.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. After the Victory: Chaos on Move-Out Day

• Recap of Last Episode: Residents at Union Point Park had defended their encampment and negotiated with the City of Oakland for a unique, resident-led housing experiment called "co-governance."
• Despite a handshake agreement, the city abruptly sends in police, public works trucks, and heavy equipment before most residents are ready to move out ([04:14]).
• Residents’ Reaction:
  • Papa Eddie: “The chaos was already in full swing.” ([04:08])
  • Mama Dee: “It was just like a riot going on… you couldn't even hear yourself think.” ([04:55])
• Destruction of Possessions: Residents lose personal belongings, including treasured items, to bulldozers and city crews.
  • Notable moment: Papa Eddie’s prized barrel of handmade walking sticks almost gets destroyed, but is saved by a volunteer, Judy ([07:13]).

2. Transition to Motel Life: Relief & Uncertainty

• The City moves the remaining 15 residents to the Travel Inn motel, with the community carrying what little survives.

  • Papa Eddie: “I just wanted to make sure everybody else, you know, got broke off something, you know.” ([09:53])

• Initial relief gives way to anxiety about the future.

  • Mama Dee: “The first few days of the motel was nobody seen nobody. Everybody went in, just closed their doors. The beds, just being in a warm room—it was awesome.” ([10:33])

• Motels as Transitional Housing: The city pays $100 a night per room, but residents don’t know how long this will last ([10:55]).

3. Building a New Community—With a Critical Middleman

• Introduction of Adam Garrett Clark: A nonprofit leader tapped as the intermediary between the city and Union Point’s residents.
  • Adam: “The bird's eye view of this is that there's just not enough homeless spots for housing for low income people. The tiny home community... that's what we need.” ([16:16])
• Adam helps organize, motivate, and wrangle logistics for the motel-based community while also managing his worries about worst-case scenarios.
  • Adam: “It’s a document that I've... a list of all the worst case scenarios. There’s drive by shooting, there’s stabbing, you know, there's fire. So that's a very serious thing that I think about.” ([21:43])

4. The Search for Land—and Political Resistance

• City Complications:

  • Adam, following city suggestions, explores various city-owned sites—but faces resistance from Council Representative Noel Gallo.
  • Gallo: “The role of government is to take care of the needy… But you just can't come here and trash it and drug yourself out… and you want me to feel sorry for you? I don't.” ([24:22])

• Alternative Land Offered: City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bass, an activist for unhoused people, offers a portion of the East 12th parcel for the housing experiment—but expresses concern:

  • Bass: “Operating two programs side by side that were different... did the city have the staff... and leadership needed to help support a successful co-governed encampment? No.” ([26:40])

5. Painful Ironies: The New Land’s Traumatic Significance

• Community Involvement: Residents, now calling themselves "Union Point on the Rise," meet to discuss their supposed 'win'—the East 12th parcel ([29:16]).

• Co-Governance Doubts: Residents feel decisions are being made for them, rather than with them.

  • Mama Dee: “We are not co-governing because we are not over there designing our own spot.” ([32:13])
  • Nita B (housing rights activist): “The city's checking off a box, being like, oh, we had a meeting. Check off a box.” ([32:36])

• Personal Trauma: The land offered is across from where Mama Dee’s son, Kendrick, was murdered.

  • Mama Dee: “Why would you guys give us a spot where, you know, my son was murdered?” ([35:01])
  • Mama Dee (on seeing the place): “It’s too much for a mother... being told where she’s gonna live, and it’s right there where your son was murdered.” ([36:46])

6. Refusing to Be Split Apart

• The group decides not to accept the East 12th site if it means trauma for Mama Dee.
  • Mama Dee: “If Mama Dee isn’t going to East 12th, none of them go.” ([38:25])
• Papa Eddie: “They disbanded a lot of communities like us… If they separate, they lose.” ([38:29])
• Mama Dee: Her community’s refusal to leave her behind reaffirms their solidarity:
  • “That just made me see the love that they have for me as family. Not friendship, but family. And we would let nobody break us apart.” ([39:47])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We accomplished something. Now let’s see how much further we could go.” — Mama Dee ([02:28])
• “It was, oh God. Like the sounds. It was just like a riot going on.” — Mama Dee ([04:55])
• “The city is buying the car... they're picking the make and model.” — Adam Garrett Clark, on the limits of co-governance ([31:44])
• “Why would you guys give us a spot where, you know, my son was murdered?” — Mama Dee ([35:01])
• “If Mama Dee isn’t going to East 12th, none of them go.” ([38:25])
• “We would let nobody break us apart.” — Mama Dee ([39:47])

Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:46 – Episode/Chapter begins
• 02:28 – Reflections on victory after eviction standoff
• 04:08 – City’s eviction’s chaos, residents' perspectives
• 10:33 – Motel move-in, community recovery
• 14:58 – Introduction of Adam Garrett Clark
• 20:24 – City's plan for building a new village and co-governance begins
• 23:10 – Resistance from local council to placing the encampment
• 25:14 – Nikki Fortunato Bass's advocacy for using East 12th parcel
• 29:14 – Motel meeting, residents discuss proposed new site
• 35:01 – Mama Dee’s trauma over site selection
• 38:25 – The group’s vow to stick together
• 39:47 – The meaning of family in the face of forced relocation

Conclusion

Episode 2 of "A Tiny Plot" exposes the tension between well-intentioned political compromise and the lived experiences of Oakland’s unhoused citizens. It highlights broken agreements, the trauma of forced relocation, the inadequacy of bureaucratic solutions, and the unwavering solidarity of those forced to live at the margins. The group’s refusal to be divided—no matter what the city offers—underscores a demand for dignity and true self-determination.

Next episode preview: More on the emotional struggle of reliving trauma, the political football of homelessness solutions, and what happens as the community's hopes for a new beginning seem to evaporate.