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Mueller, Aimee B.

From: Joan Miro <joan.of.art.goodie.tables@gmail.com>Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 4:17 PMTo: Mueller, Aimee B.Subject: Re: Berkeley Rent Board contact info.Attachments: 1471241771851.jpg; IMG_20160902_183604613 (6).jpg; Letter about Community to East Bay

Times.docx

Hi, Ms Mueller,

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to send the photo of the picture

that's on the disc that I had professionally printed, but here is one finished photo that I took laying the art work

on the ground at Lake Merritt. And the other one shows where I started sketching in Jackson Park in

Alameda. The one on the disc is better and that's the one that I have copies of. I can drop one off if you'd like

to see the 14"x 20".

I'm also attaching one write up about it. But, briefly, it's a group of modular units laid out in circles to promote

community, because no one has a "better" location; everyone's equal. "Circle time!" says the preschool

teacher. There is a community center on campus for the purpose of supplying services for those in need of

medicine, a doctor, social services, classes, a gym, socializing, etc., just to make it easier for people to get to

know one another and replace hopelessness with hope. And these would be rentals, paid for in part with the

resident's social security or housing subsidies. I haven't worked that out; I'm an artist not an accountant. There

might be only one cluster of 10 units (20 residents in 110 sq ft each) in a People's-Park-sized plot, or there could

be 10 clusters of 100 units (200 residents) with a larger community center, depending on the size of the land

that is donated to the city.

Depending on how large the mods are, (and there could be different sized modular units) and depending on

whom it would be serving, the community center could also house the cafeteria. A housing group for the

seriously mentally ill that I worked with in 2016-17 agreed that housing for the at-risk-of-homelessness (the

seriously mentally ill), should include a mixed group of people, not just those who were mentally ill. Just as A-

1 described: the housing bill is for those people just aging out of foster care, older adults, mentally ill, etc...a

mixture.

Each cluster of 10 buildings could hold 10 or 20 people (20 if the 220 sq. ft. unit is walled in half.) So, the

amount of people you can see in the picture(40) is how many who would live in the 2 clusters pictured in the

drawing. I was thinking of calling it, "Your Brother's Couch."

My hope is that something more can be done for all people who need a roof over their head at any point in time,

so they can get back on their feet and either move out and up soon, or stay and build a sense of community with

others.

Thank you for offering to spread the word.

Joan Miro

joan.of.art.goodie.tables@gmail.com

On Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 11:30 AM, Mueller, Aimee B. <AMueller@cityofberkeley.info> wrote:

Hello Ms. Miro,

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Per our conversation, if you reply to this e-mail and attach the artwork you spoke of – including any

statement/information you’d like the Rent Board Commissioners to consider – I will put your submission in

the agenda packet for the Board’s next meeting on February 26th.

Thank you,

Aimee MuellerAimee MuellerAimee MuellerAimee Mueller

Associate Management Analyst

City of Berkeley |Rent Board

2125 Milvia Street | Berkeley, CA 94704

Tel.: 510.981.4932 | Fax: 510.981.4940

amueller@cityofberkeley.info

From Isolation to Community for the homeless and at risk of homelessness—the seriously mentally ill—

can become a reality by voting “yes” on A-1 for Affordable Housing in November

Isolation is a big problem for the seriously mentally ill, and the concept of community may be the

answer. The conclusions of a study published in Perspectives in Psychiatric Care by Linz S, and Sturm B in

October 2013, published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., showed that “people experiencing severe mental

illness (SMI) often experience social isolation, specifically through stigma, alienation, and loneliness.

Services and psychiatric nursing should consider the important role of human contact and social

connection.

The Issue: Understanding the historical, theoretical, and conceptual understandings

surrounding social isolation as experienced by people with SMI informs the care and

services offered to those living with SMI.

Key Findings: Historically people with SMI have been excluded from society, and public

awareness and understanding of SMI is lacking. Stigma, alienation, and loneliness are

the three main subheadings found relating to social isolation and the mentally ill. Social

isolation among people with SMI is complex, influenced by many factors.”*

I admit I may be obsessed with the idea of creating community, having grown up in a Jewish community,

in a big city, yet people actually knew each other. Even my business plan for dessert centerpieces, is

designed with a map of a community, and reveals my preoccupation with the idea.

Lesson plans for my special education classes, when I taught home economics, focused on

understanding what goes on in communities, and included building one with boxes, which gave students

opportunities to discuss what community is. Another evidence of my immersion in the concept is a

drawing of what a college could look like, were it to help create community for students, instead of just

using the land for graduation ceremonies.

We’re born, we interact, and then, poof, we’re no longer here in body, but, hopefully our spirit leaves

the world a better place. And that can only be attained by interacting with other people while on earth,

on positive notes, meeting and greeting, to create that sense of community which enables people to

work together to contemplate and open up each other’s eyes to new concepts, and , of course,

prospective friendships. Wrought large, when societies co-exist, by working to maintain that same

sense of community, there is benefit for everyone: to be able to safely live LIFE!

Examples of community building can be found in two cousins, both of whom recently passed away, but

not before making the world a little better place. Both in Atlanta, Robert Gold, MD, did surgeries on

submarines over a 20 year period, and after retirement, Admiral Gold founded an organization that

continues to advance the medical-coding profession. National Weather Channel’s Dave Schwartz may

they both rest in peace, who, even without being close in distance, created community, “my friend,”

through love of his fellow man. Even though he didn’t see or know the people who saw him on screen,

he was able to create a sense of community, as is documented on social media.

In the case of those who are mentally ill, building community within a circular village, can bring them

together with people who share the same kinds of challenges—or with other people, who are not

mentally ill, like veterans, young adults exiting foster care, college students, the homeless or anyone else

who would be content to live independently in a small but adequate community-oriented space—so

they can begin to remove the bonds of isolation.

A small example of the theory that a contained, circular space helps people to socialize is the roundness

of the Villa Fairmont Psychiatric Hospital in San Leandro. The circular layout, with 20 bedrooms on the

perimeter of a large living room, enables patients to meet in a large central space as soon as they exit

their bedrooms. That builds friendships and friendships reduce isolation. By simply being in close

proximity to each other, and taking part in living-room activities—conversation, playing table games,

taking classes, watching movies and TV together—isolation is lessened. In the Community Clubhouse

drawing of the modular village, the clubhouse is central to the small studio units, and activities such as

coming into the clubhouse for meals, or just being close enough to bump into each other to chat, play

board games, or take an art class can produce a reduction in this the tendency toward isolation in the

mentally ill.

Community is not always found in every building. It demands a way to structure buildings and the

rooms within them, so that people have both the privacy they desire, as well as the opportunity to see,

meet and share conversation and/or activities with other people who have needs or desires in common.

And this type of community is what voting “yes” on A-1 for affordable housing, can produce.

http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2013/10/the-phenomenon-of-social-isolation-in-the-severely-

mentally-ill.html