L.A.'s woeful efforts at getting federal grants

Another reminder of the city's managerial ineptitude: L.A. received $261 million in stimulus funding over an 18-month period - out of a possible $1.3 billion, according to an audit released by Controller Wendy Greuel. Turns out that a lot of potential dollars for housing, economic development, transportation, energy, and public safety were not even pursued. L.A. certainly would not have received all $1.3 billion, but by not applying it's impossible to know how much could have been picked up. I'm sure other cities blundered as well - no wonder small-government proponents have such a following. From the report:

Since the primary purpose of the Stimulus Act was to create jobs and stimulate the economy, the Federal/State grantor agencies requested a fast turnaround. Typically, grant applications had to be submitted within four to five weeks after the Notice of Funding Availability. We noted that decisions made by City management delayed the process, which decreased the time allowed to prepare grant applications. For example, the Public Safety working group took control of the ARRA process and made decisions as to which grants to apply. However, LAPD indicated that due to the prolonged review and decision process within the working group, when the LAPD was ultimately instructed to prepare the ARRA application, there was little remaining time left to prepare the application. According to the [City Administrative Officer], the City originally intended to form a group of six in-house subject matter experts to peer review the ARRA grant applications prior to submission. However, due to the individuals' other job commitments, the group of grant experts never met. Without this type of collaboration or centralized guidance, City departments' ARRA application efforts was somewhat siloed, and the City may not have optimized the applications.

Greuel, who is running for mayor, pinned the blame on "the lack of an effective, centralized oversight unit to coordinate grant applications among the city departments."