When the federal stimulus program was launched in early 2009, the city of Los Angeles was in dire straits, facing a shortfall of $427 million and the possibility of mass layoffs. City officials scrambled at the new source of funds, ultimately netting more than $630 million in stimulus grants.

But nearly two years later, the city has spent only about a quarter of that money, a rate of spending that trails that of New York, Chicago and several other large California cities. Though the bulk of L.A.’s stimulus money was awarded by last March, the city had completed only eight of its 108 projects by mid-October.

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