Daily News from New York, New York • 240

-r .,,.,1, i t.Mt iijjlk, i u.jmw. jw.jumj, turn ummi mwwpmw I fesggsggt fit- FRANK CASTORAL DAILY NEWS 'J Volunteers scrape algae from Tilly Park's pond, which is clogged by growth. V- ttl r-, 4 ai7S (iapEie5) is aQDsjeir pi 1 05R! fas ita mm TUsmw By ROBERT JASINSKI Graffiti covers memorial to park's namesake. Stone had been cleaned during last year's renovation. vandalizing the park." Joey, 17, a student at Jamaica High School, agreed with Borko.

"It's cool here in the park. Kids can do whatever they want," he said, as he rolled four marijuana cigarets on a park bench. "The cops come around here once in a while, but they're no hassle. We wait until they're gone and just keep rolling." Police at the Fresh Meadows stationhouse said that a serious manpower shortage has hampered their effort to rid the park of drugs. "IT'S AN ONGOING PROBLEM," said a spokesman, "but hopefully, with the addition of recent Police Academy graduates, we can devote more time and manpower to the parfc" Cassandra Evans, 28, who frequents the park, expressed hope that it would eventually become a model for other parks in the area.

"I come here from Hollis because this park is cleaner and more quiet," she said. "Sure there are drugs here, but that's a problem in our society. This park is still nice. It's definitely more appealing than it was last year. It's a beautiful place with the pond and the trees.

It's sad that people abuse it" The park, located immediately south of Jamaica High School, was deeded to the city in 1908 and is named in honor of George Tilly, a resident of the neighborhood who was killed during the Spanish-American War in 1899. nowhere to be found," Borko charged. "The workers realize that their positions are being phased out by the Reagan administration and feel they can take it easy. If the park was properly would change," he reasoned. Borko added that the park's pond is full of algae.

"The pond has remained dirty for quite some time. Originally, the contractor put a special valve on the pond and at first, no one knew how to operate it" A spokesman for the Parks Department confirmed that the positions held by the CETA workers would be "terminated" in October, but said the park would undergo several cleaning up projects during the summer. "WE WILL PAINT OVER the graffiti, and we have already installed vandal-proof benches in the park," said Diana Chapin, the administrator of Queens Parks. "The algae problem is different" she noted. "Ordinarily, we would simply flush the pond, but because of the drought we cannot We will have to skim the surface of the pond in order to remove some of the algae." Borko added that students from the three high-schools in the area have contributed to the park's deterioration.

"We have roughly 10,000 kids roaming the area during the school year," he said. "There are kids from Hillcrest, Thomas Edison, and Jamaica High, School in the park at various times. Some of the kids are involved in drugs and others get a kick from IX MONTHS AGO, CapL George Tilly Park in Jamaica was a clean and enticing recreation area where hundreds of neighborhood resi dents enjoyed a variety of winter sports, including ice skating and sled racing. The nine-acre park was-in the midst of a $500,000 Parks Department renovation program that rid it of graffiti, added 77 new benches, and generally lifted the community-oriented spirit of nearby residents. Today, the renovated park is graffiti-ridden, dirty, and a haven for vandals and drug dealers.

"IT SEEMS THAT EVERY time something major is happening at another Queens park, the limited personnel from Tilly Park are temporarily removed," said Herman Borko, who waged a one-man campaign last year to renovate the park. "When there aren't any Parks Department person- nel to. keep the park in order, vandals and drug dealers have an easier time of doing whatever they want" Borko, who has lived directly across from the park at 165-20 Highland Ave. since 1949, blasted Parks Department officials for appointing two Comprehensive Educational Training Act employes to maintain the park. "Supposedly, there are two full-time employes at the park.

But many times, the two CETA workers are Esposito blasts Koch Page 3. Barks for dogs unheeded Page 3.