CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / L.A. COUNTY

With local agencies already touting projects that are underway, Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday criticized the county’s effort to get stimulus money as too slow and bureaucratic and said their lobbyists in Washington were providing too little information on when those funds would be available locally.

“As of today, maybe even tomorrow, we don’t know if that money’s going to flow direct so that we have access to it . . . or if it will flow through the state and they’ll take a huge chunk of it,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, who announced earlier this month that he hoped to use federal money to fund 10,000 temporary jobs but now said he was unsure the deal will come together as planned.

“I have 7,000 people who have lost their jobs in my district,” Supervisor Gloria Molina said, urging William T Fujioka, county chief executive, to expedite stimulus projects that might help create new jobs. Molina also questioned how the plans to create “green jobs” in environmentally friendly industries would relate to her constituents.

Fujioka disputed the criticism that his staff was not doing enough to get answers and said new county projects will get the green light in the coming weeks because of anticipated stimulus funds.

-- Garrett Therolf