Daily News from New York, New York • 319

BSI 2 XQL DAILY NEWS Sunday, September 20, .1987 ive park $100M facelift Flam to PARK FROM PAGE ONE between 45,000 and 55,000 baseball fans attended Mets games at That produced "tremendous" parking problems, he said, which also will be addressed in the redevelopment plans. The third area, the cultural and rec-reational area regarded as the park's "core" region extends from the Van Wyck Expressway to the Grand Central Parkway, and crosses over to 111th St. north of the Long Island Expressway. This area includes the Unisphere fountain, its adjacent reflecting pools and plaza, the Court of Nations, the Court of Astronauts and the International Gardens. It also includes the New York Hall of Science and the Queens Museum.

Preserving natural state The fourth, or "lake" area, embraces Meadow Lake the biggest lake in the city (reachable' by foot) and the adjoining, but smaller, Willow Lake, which can be reached by a viaduct. Meadow Lake houses a huge am-pitheater and a boathouse that has not been used for years. "We'd like to keep Willow Lake in a naturalistic state, but we'll be working on both lake areas, clearing and cleaning them," Abramowitz said. Abramowitz said the capital projects envisioned for Flushing Meadows are "significant" and are the biggest planned for all of all the city's parks. .0 lSr 1 -f -1 tninmffl it nmniinnn mntiffl mrr iiiimiriinnniTi SHEA Stadium, home of the Mets, will be visited by more than 2V2 million fans this year.

The dredging of malodorous Flushing Bay will precede renovation of the dilapidated waterfront area and a major sewer project that will pave the way for a promenade area. "What we're working out," Abramowitz said, "is a first-class promenade, something like Battery Park City, that hopefully will set a precedent dealing with the development of the entire waterfront region." Already funded by the city, Abramowitz said, is a design plan calling for an esplanade costing an estimated $8.1 million that will run along Flushing River and down to LaGuar-dia Airport, an area that includes East Elmhurst, the Flushing Marina and land earmarked for additional parking for Shea Stadium. "A promenade such as this would open the entire waterfront region to the people of Queens and the rest of the city," he said. "We also have a plan working to use the three marinas as concessions operated by the Parks Department to obtain added revenues and to provide a public service." Another project planned is the total renovation of the Queens Zoo under supervision of the New York Zoological Society, which will operate and manage the zoo following reconstruction work. The work is expected to cost about $6.5 million and take between two and three years to complete.

Noting the $27 million appropriated for reconstruction for Central Park Zoo and $22 million for Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, Abramowitz said construction costs for the Queens Zoo were much less because the zoo "needs a lot less work." "Our (Queens) zoo was built 20 years ago and was a much more modern facility," he observed. "It's a much better zoo than the others in terms of animal needs. It's a natural habitat It'll be a whole new zoo, with new animals and exhibits and a huge influx of people coming to see it" Groundbreaking for the zoo's reconstruction is expected by next Jan. 1, Abramowitz said. The first phase of plans for redesigning the Unisphere fountain call for new mechanicals and lighting and the restructuring of the reflecting pools.

They also call for a new retaining wall and surrounding fountain for the Unisphere Plaza, in addition to new benches, paving and tree plantings. The project is expected to cost between $5.7 million and $5.9 million. A companion plan in the initial phase also calls for construction of a new swimming pool arid restoration of the ampitheater at a combined cost of about $16 million. The fan-shaped area behind the Unisphere will house the International Gardens, created as a mini-botanic display of plants from nations the world over a tangible and colorful reference to the park's role as the first home of the United Nations. World's Fair site The park was the site of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs, and more recently, the annual Queens Festival extravaganzas that last June, which drew 2 million visitors.

Mark Schuyler, program director of the Queens Council on the Arts, said the overall plan will help "open the park to more people" and heighten its array of cultural, educational and rec- reational resources. Marilyn Hoyt director of external affairs for the New York Hall of Science, which occupies a 22-acre site in the park, cited the facility as an example, and pointed out that last year it attracted some 225,000 visitors, half of them children, including about 75,000 youngsters from Queens alone. "These park activities are not frivolous, nor are they used by the elite," Schuyler pointed out "They are used by people who live around the park. We also know that park art organizations (those located in the park) as a group, have a stronger utilization by minorities and by people who do not ordinarily frequent cultural institutions anywhere else in the city" I A JF MICHAEL Jackson as he cavorted in "The Wiz" which was filmed at Rushing Meadows-Corona Park. iL ('(.