At an update on the recovery at City Park, the question was an appropriate one: Would anyone in the room live to see the majestic canopy of live oaks restored over Lelong Avenue that greeted visitors for generations before the storm?

"How old are you?" deadpanned Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, drawing laughter from the park boosters gathered inside the antique carousel, still under repair.

Gallows humor comes naturally to officials entrusted with reviving the crown jewel of local parks, a 1,300-acre tract that sustained an estimated $43 million in damage from Katrina's winds and floodwaters.

Although staffers can count many successes -- from the reopening of the park's art museum, sculpture garden and tennis courts to the debut of a new miniature train -- they acknowledge the road to full recuperation is a slog, not a sprint.

But the mood was upbeat last week as federal officials announced that their financial commitment to rebuild the park had reached $8.6 million. They also offered assurances that more cash is on the way.

More important, the flow of money, after months of painstaking negotiations with FEMA, has reached a point where the park can launch its most extensive rebuilding program since the storm, director of development John Hopper said.

Under a $3.7 million contract signed recently with Rycars Construction of Destrehan, the park plans to tackle about four dozen projects, ranging from restroom, fountain, fencing and picnic shelter repairs to overhauling the shuttered Casino building, with its event rooms and food and beverage service.

While the federally financed sound of hammers and saws is still about two weeks away, cash cobbled together from other sources will allow shovels to hit the dirt Thursday as dozens of new trees are planted along the largely barren Lelong Avenue corridor that leads to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The new tree canopy is part of a $230,000 project financed by a combination of city and state dollars and a grant from Rotary International. Along with 40 mature live oaks and 130 crape myrtles, plans call for new benches and trash receptacles. Park officials are counting on FEMA to replace light fixtures and electrical wiring ruined by floodwaters.

'Do it better'

When it comes to the planned projects and several that are already complete, the park has adopted a creative financing strategy not just to rebuild what was there before the flood but to improve it, said City Park director Bob Becker. That means augmenting FEMA money, which is limited to repair work, with state money and philanthropic donations.

"Whenever we look to repair something, we're trying to do it better," Becker said. "For example, in the amusement park, we bought new rides."

The park used the same approach before reopening the popular Botanical Garden, which lost most of its plants and shrubs. After a local foundation donated $1 million to restore the exhibit, Becker's staff took advantage of the clean slate to install new irrigation and electrical services.

"Had we waited for FEMA, the gardens would likely still be closed, and FEMA would not have paid for the new systems," Hopper said.

As the slow rebuilding proceeds, the park also is trying to implement as much as possible the blueprint laid out in a $115 million master plan prepared before the storm.

"We're moving forward toward that master plan even as we repair," Becker said, adding that more than $10 million of the work already done or in the planning stage is from the $115 million wish list.

As for the likelihood of finding the rest of the money, Landrieu said he thinks it's a reachable goal.

"Like anything that we do, some of it is going to come from private funds, some of it will come from donations from corporations, some of it will come from governmental entities," he said.

"We believe if you create a vision and you enlist the help of a lot of partnerships and people find ownership, then you will eventually get to this park being as glorious as we think it can be."

First things first

With substantial FEMA money finally in hand, Becker said the park is placing a priority on money-making attractions like the Casino and the Popp's Tent, a reception hall adjacent to Popp's Fountain on Marconi Drive that was washed away by Katrina. Another source of revenue, The Pavilion of the Two Sisters reception hall, has been back in business for more than a year.

In the months before the storm, the Popp's Fountain facility brought in $1,750 in rent for each private party, not including income from catering and liquor sales.

Lower on the priority list is the park's Administration Building, which soaked for weeks in 4 feet of water that destroyed archives, computers and records. Becker and his lieutenants continue to work out of trailers.

FEMA's current estimate of the total damage reimbursement for the park is about $18 million.

"Of course, that's a working number," Becker said. "As they go through and do their damage estimates and verify claims, that number has consistently risen."

Although Landrieu also is optimistic about getting more money out of FEMA, he urged park patrons to be patient.

"This is only a down payment," he said. "It's a very small one because we have a very, very long way to go to make this the mecca that we know it can be."

Other sources of cash

In the meantime, Becker said he's moving to secure money on several other fronts.

With Landrieu's help, for example, the park has secured $6.2 million from the state in capital outlay dollars earmarked for repair of the dormant golf complex. It's a key asset, given that it generated nearly a third of the park's $10.8 million pre-storm operating budget.

The park is holding off on spending the state money, however, until FEMA submits its final damage settlement for the courses and the Fore!Kids Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to spreading love of golf to the next generation, delivers its proposal to overhaul the complex.

The ambitious Fore!Kids plan, which remains a work in progress, calls for investing up to $200 million, partly in a state-of-the-art golf complex suitable to host PGA Tour events. The rest will go toward construction of 1,000 units of mixed-income housing, two 400-pupil charter schools and a YMCA family center -- all nearby at the soon-to-be-demolished St. Bernard public housing complex.

Becker, who expects to have a detailed development blueprint by midsummer, said the $6.2 million in state aid and the expected FEMA settlement could be added to the pot as the park's contribution to the plan.

In another improvement, the Trust for Public Land has pledged to invest $2 million on improvements to the park entrance at Esplanade Avenue leading to the portals of the art museum. Preliminary plans call for jogging paths, shelters, new landscaping around the nearby lagoon, known as Big Lake, and possibly a small performance stage.

Becker said The Trust for Public Land has agreed to hire the Wallace, Roberts & Todd planning firm, which devised the $115 million master development plan.

On a smaller scale, the Starbucks corporation has offered to spend $250,000 refurbishing the picnic area outside the amusement park.

Many are pitching in

While many commitments to provide recovery aid are still being discussed, the park already has raised almost $10 million from private donors. In addition, volunteers have made 11,000 visits, investing an estimated 60,000 hours that park officials say has a cash equivalent of $1.1 million, or 29 full-time employees working for a year.

"They have picked up trash, removed tree limbs, painted fences, strung lights, potted plants, dug holes, entered data, you name it they have done it," Hopper said. "We believe we are correct when we say that we are the most entrepreneurial park in all of parkdom."

Landrieu said the outpouring of help for the park, which has only 44 of its 260 pre-storm employees, is a source of inspiration for the entire city.

"As we try to piece our lives back together," he said, "one of the things we're learning as we struggle through this is that nothing gets back together without great partnerships and a lot of work from a lot of different people."

Dealing with FEMA

Like most government agencies, City Park has had a difficult time satisfying FEMA when it comes to securing damage reimbursements. And last week, a top FEMA official accepted part of the blame.

"We have taken some hits," said Jim Stark, director of the agency's Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office. "And quite frankly, some of those were probably deserved. A lot of them were probably deserved."

Stark said FEMA's relationship with City Park improved after the agency assigned three staffers last year to work daily with Becker's staff.

"As we work with them and find more damages that were storm-related, more ways that we can help support the recovery, we'll write checks for that," Stark said. "And we're committed to doing that until the very end. And it's going to be a years-long project, not just here at City Park."

Stark, who has lived in Algiers for the past four years, said he and his family have a personal connection to the park.

"I've seen my high school kids run track in Tad Gormley," he said. "I've seen my 6-year-old twins play in the train garden and ride this carousel. And I'm glad it's all coming back too."

Addressing the $8.6 million FEMA has committed to date, Stark said: "I can tell you there's more in the wings, there's more in process right now. And I'd like to see that amount grow and bring City Park back to its former glory."

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