Ms. Marguerite Scott has been Resident Watch supervisor since the early 80s. She spends a few hours everyday doing door to door outreach. Her monthly calendar is organized so she regularly visits every tenant in the Gowanus Houses. She encourages everyone to spend one hour a week cleaning and caring for their building.
Fort Greene
Marguerite Scott
She enjoys seeing how different residents gather, from indoor hallway picnics to awards ceremonies organized by neighbors. She loves seeing neighbors help each other out, such as when a tenant in Building D ran an extension cord all the way to a unit in Building A, because those tenants had just had a new baby, and their power was out. For Ms. Scott, all the residents are “her people” and she says regularly “I love them all. I love every minute of it.”
Ms. Scott also takes care of those that work with her. Wendy, a caretaker at the Gowanus Houses shares: “I am speaking from my heart. You can have a really hard day with work, or with personal things and you can always come to Ms. Scott and she’ll make it right.”
Portrait by
Emily Hvaláč Green
Emily Hvaláč Green is a New Zealand-born, Brooklyn-based photographer and artist. She focuses on empowerment through collaboration and creativity.
Portrait by
Anders Jones
Anders Jones has lived in the Ft Greene / Clinton Hill neighborhood for over 20 years. His present multidisciplinary practice uses photography, video and other media to encourage viewers to think critically, question and dialogue about the importance of community, urban renewal and the ways neighborhoods might be transformed for the benefit of all without totally obliterating its roots.
