Day: June 5, 2025

Biotech firm Cresilon, known for its TraumaGel that stops bleeding instantly, expanded its headquarters by 28,000 sq. feet at Industry City.

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For more than five decades, the Historic Mt. Zion Church of God 7th Day has been a vital fixture in the East Flatbush community, providing food, clothing and spiritual support to seniors, unhoused individuals and struggling families. Now, the congregation is grappling with an unexpected blow: the theft of its outreach van, a key tool in delivering those services.

The van’s driver discovered it missing on May 31, just before a planned trip. The white Ford E-350 had been parked outside the church and was used to support Mt. Zion’s extensive community programs.

“It’s frustrating to say the least,” Pastor Gil Montrose told Brooklyn Paper. “It’s also discouraging to see that someone would upend this ministry and put us in extreme pain.” 

Montrose described the van as essential to operating the church’s food pantry, farmers market and “bagel ministry,” which delivers food to other houses of worship without access to transportation. It also supported the church’s outreach to unhoused individuals, where volunteers distribute hot meals and assemble care packages.

The vehicle had served the church for eight years before it was stolen. Montrose said its absence has made current outreach efforts “difficult” and “cumbersome.”

In response, the pastor launched a GoFundMe campaign to help replace the van. Local residents have contributed nearly $3,000 so far, but the church still faces a long road ahead.

“The community is shocked that somebody would steal our vehicle, in particular because of the work that we’ve done,” Montrose said. “They are saddened that this is a reality we face. They’re standing with us in solidarity. And we’re hoping that people who feel the work we are doing can give us a hand.” 

Their efforts also extend to annual back-to-school supply giveaways, Thanksgiving meal deliveries to staff at five local hospitals and organizing free gospel concerts at Kingsbrook Medical Center and Brookdale Hospital. 

“This is a real ministry,” Montrose said. “This is on-the-ground work that churches and communities should be doing. We’ve called Brooklyn our home for years, and we are steeped in our community.” 

With the community’s support, Mt. Zion is determined to rebuild and roll forward once again in service of East Flatbush. In the meantime, the church urges anyone with information on the van’s disappearance to call (718)-294-1097 or notify the NYPD.

After more than two years under scaffolding, the more than 130-year-old Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza emerged from its extensive restoration on Thursday.

The $8.9 million project, led by the Prospect Park Alliance and backed by mayoral funding, also included improvements to the area surrounding the monument. This marked the first major restoration of the 19th-century monument in nearly 50 years.

“The Grand Army Plaza Arch stands not only as a gateway to Prospect Park, but as a powerful symbol of Brooklyn’s history, resilience, and pride,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “Our administration is dedicated to revitalizing public spaces like the Grand Army Plaza Arch and ensuring that New Yorkers continue to have access to green space throughout the city.”

Prospect Park Alliance President Morgan Monaco described the arch as “a true monument of the people,” honoring “the young men of Brooklyn who lost their lives defending the Union.”

“The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza is a Brooklyn icon and now once again a shining jewel of the borough. We are so grateful to the Mayor’s Office for providing the funding so that the Alliance could restore the Arch to its original glory, and ensure that it serves as an essential civic space for our community for generations to come,” said Morgan.

The sweeping renovation of the iconic structure, first dedicated in 1892 to commemorate Union soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War, got underway in May 2023. The work included replacing the roof, cleaning and repointing the granite stonework, repairing decorative bronze and cast-iron spiral staircases, restoring entrance gates, and installing new energy-efficient lighting to highlight the arch’s historic sculptures.

To restore the Arch — designed by architect John H. Duncan, who also designed Grant’s Tomb in Morningside Heights, the final resting place of President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia — the Alliance’s team of architects carried out extensive research to reconstruct its historic design.

Since the original blueprints no longer exist, they used radar and magnetic imaging to create detailed scans of the structure’s interior. These scans, along with past restoration records and surveys, guided a thorough rehabilitation effort, according to the group.

The project involved reinforcing the structure with new steel supports and installing an updated internal drainage system. After analyzing mortar samples in a lab, the team identified Rosendale cement, a historic material from upstate New York, as the appropriate match and used it in repairs.

Damaged stonework was replaced with material sourced from a quarry near the Arch’s original supplier in Maine. Inside, the bronze and cast-iron staircases and entrance gates were dismantled, cleaned, and restored, with missing parts recreated before being carefully reassembled on site.

The NYC Parks Citywide Monuments Conservation Program also cleaned and restored the arch’s monumental bronze statuary, originally designed by Frederick William MacMonnies, among others.

The Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza is one of the city’s three major triumphal arches and has long been considered akin to Paris’ Arc de Triomphe. Landmark status was granted in 1975 after decades of deterioration, including the dramatic fall of the statue of Columbia from her chariot in 1976. The Alliance said this event led to its founding.

In the area surrounding the monument, the Alliance also replaced the berms that frame the plaza’s northern edge, removing invasive vegetation and planting nearly 200 native trees, along with new shrubs and flowers. Broken bluestone and granite paving around Bailey Fountain and the John F. Kennedy Memorial were repaired and made ADA-accessible. A new low steel fence has replaced the chain-link fencing.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso hailed the restoration as “a revitalization of the heart of Grand Army Plaza for generations of Brooklynites to come.”

The restoration efforts recently earned the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the state’s highest honor for historic preservation.

Urban Park Rangers are set to lead special guided tours of the Arch on Saturday, June 28. Visitors hoping to see the restorations close up can sign up for a chance to attend by entering a lottery, which closes June 8, at prospectpark.org/arch-tour.

Emily Chandler of P.S. 371 wins a $25K FLAG Award for innovative teaching that has inspired students using real-world, creative learning.

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