By Bruce Nolan
Times-Picayune
EMA 2.0: Does your Web site stack up?

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans area residents now have a second Internet site to use to check the rebuilding status of a fire station, branch library or other storm-damaged facility in their neighborhood.

But, in many cases, the two sites display vastly different information about the same project, reflecting the complexities of recovery financing.

The newer of the two, www.FEMARecovery.gov, went live Thursday.

A tool of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it allows a user to locate a project -- the Algiers Regional Library, for instance -- and see that FEMA has signed off on $749,634.54 in repairs.

Meanwhile, Internet users who go to a "Track Our Recovery" map at the city's Web site, www.cityofno.com, see a similar Web tool designed by MWH, the city's construction coordinator.

That site features much richer details showing, for example, that the same library is budgeted for $1,363,161 in repairs, but design has not started.

Completion of the library is scheduled for mid-2010 -- but that is a guess, considering that design has not started -- cautioned Dani Galloway, an employee of the City Hall contractor who built the site.

That the two jobs should differ by 82 percent is almost certainly because, besides FEMA money, the city also has access to federal money from Community Development Block Grants, FEMA spokesman Bob Josephson said.

In any event, FEMA rolled out its Web site to demonstrate precisely how much money it has made available to the city, he said.

The new Web site, which is searchable from Texas to Alabama by parish or ZIP code, shows how much money FEMA has authorized for projects such as police and fire stations, pumping stations, libraries, museums and the like.

It is the second generation of an earlier FEMA Web site dedicated solely to schools.

In the vast majority of cases, the dollar amounts on the FEMA site are settled figures, Josephson said.

Josephson and other FEMA officials said the Web tool is a demonstration of FEMA transparency; it is also clearly intended as a defense to the frequent city charge that many city projects are delayed by financing struggles with FEMA.

"The issues are resolved; we're not arguing over the scope of work, and the money is ready to be disbursed," he said.

Josephson acknowledged that in a few projects, however, the city continues to dispute an amount FEMA has offered. One such case is the fire department's Engine Company 3 at 1400 S. Broad St. The FEMA site states FEMA has authorized $42,000, while the city site budgets it at more than $1 million.

Josephson said FEMA made substantial deductions from the amount the city might have received because that station was not covered by flood insurance. But the city is still disputing the award, he said.

Josephson pointed out that FEMA disbursements for any project may grow as labor costs rise or hidden damage is uncovered.

The city's site has steadily grown in detailed content since being unveiled in February, said Galloway of MWH.

It, too, shows the project status for police and fire stations, community centers, parks and libraries. But it adds much more detail than the FEMA site.

The city site shows, for example, that the project to repair the Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts has been budgeted at $31.1 million, names the architect, contractor and construction manager, and is scheduled to be finished by the end of the year.

Copyright 2008 The Times-Picayune Publishing Company