By Howard Koplowitz
Members of the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Conservancy joined state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) and a Queens Boy Scouts troop Sunday to unveil a new sign directing the park's visitors.
The sign, a map of the 1,200-acre park, sits at the west side of Meadow Lake near the Jurassic Playground.
“I think the sign is great,” said Steve Velky, an Astoria resident and the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 96, based in Forest Hills. “Anything they can do to let people know what's here.”
Padavan helped secure state funds to install the sign and allocated $5,000 to the conservancy in this year's budget.
“I think it's a great thing,” said Corey Bearak, a conservancy member.
Bearak said the group is still looking at how to spend the $5,000, although he said, “certainly new signs like this should be one thing.”
The Boy Scout troop was busy cleaning up the shoreline on the west side of Meadow Lake before the brief unveiling, where they were removing invasive species such as phragmites — a common reed not native to the park, Velky said.
“It's really taken over the whole lake,” he said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
