Group Lays Plans to Prevent Unrest : Riot aftermath: City-hired activists will help squelch rumors and lessen neighborhood tensions during trials in King beating and Denny assault.

Using techniques honed in political campaigns, union organizing and protests against inner-city liquor stores, two dozen activists hired by the city have begun tackling what may be their most difficult objective yet: defusing tensions in Los Angeles’ diverse neighborhoods so two upcoming, highly volatile trials do not prompt another round of riots.

The core group of activists brought together as part of Mayor Tom Bradley’s Neighbor to Neighbor program will try to recruit hundreds of others--including ministers, gang members, senior citizens and students--to try to keep the peace during the trials of four officers accused of beating motorist Rodney G. King and three men accused of assaulting trucker Reginald O. Denny.

Acknowledging that they were caught off guard by the not guilty verdicts in the King case, organizers say they hope to engage community members across the city in discussions of the trials as they proceed and to provide alternatives to violence.

“We know the city is still in a volatile state,” said activist Michael Wynn, who has been fighting the reopening of South-Central liquor stores as part of the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment. “We’re going to have our fingers on the pulse and we’re going to tell people not to be part of the problem but part of the solution.”

Steve Bradford, another organizer, said: “If people are angry with the verdicts, we want that anger channeled into something else--a march, a letter-writing campaign or even a work slowdown like the unions use, but not the destruction of property.”

The mayor’s outreach program, announced last month, comes after he and other leaders were criticized for being out of touch with community sentiment when the verdicts in the King beating case were returned last spring. Bradley and others were at a large gathering at First African Methodist Episcopal Church when rioting broke out.

During the officers’ federal civil rights trial and the trial involving Denny’s beating, Bradley aide Marcela Howell said, there will be decentralized activities throughout the city tailored to the neighborhoods.

Bradley, in brief remarks Thursday to the newly hired community organizers, said one focus will be relaying accurate information about the trials to residents in an attempt to eliminate rumors.

“Your mission is to get out and talk with people and bring them into the process so they understand what is going on, both in court and the community,” Bradley said.

The activists--10 senior organizers and 13 assistants, all African-American and Latino--have spent this week at Holman United Methodist Church in a refresher course on grass-roots organizing.

At the first session Wednesday, they debated how to describe the events of last spring and how various terms--from revolution to uprising to riot--carry strong political messages. No decision was made.

They have also been compiling lists of churches, community organizations and business groups to recruit into the program, and analyzing the racial makeup of the neighborhoods they are targeting.

On Monday they will hit the streets, hoping to round up volunteers.

The backgrounds of the organizers vary, although all have ties to their communities and have rallied people for causes in the past.

Program coordinator Martin Lutlow is a union organizer who was one of the leaders of the campaign to pass Charter Amendment F to reform the Los Angeles Police Department. Others are a gang prevention worker, the president of a soccer league, members of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, and Danny Bakewell Jr., son of the president of the Brotherhood Crusade.

To focus their efforts, the city has been divided into 11 zones, based on City Council districts where violence occurred during the civil disturbances. There also will be organizers in the schools and in major public housing projects. Omitted from the program were City Council Districts 2, 3, 11 and 12, all in areas of the San Fernando Valley untouched by the violence.

The organizers say they expect to use the same techniques they have used in previous community campaigns.

“I’ll be out contacting people in the community--a lot of the same people I just spoke to during my campaign,” said Clifford McClain, who ran unsuccessfully for the 25th Senate District in November. “Whereas as a candidate I was trying to get them to vote, now I’m trying to get them involved in the community.”

Michael M. Salcido, who was on the national advance staff for the presidential campaign of Bill Clinton, said his objective is much broader than trying to win the White House.

“I’m after peace,” he said. “I want people to use their energies and anger in a positive manner.”

The core workers, who will earn between $1,500 and $2,500 a month, say they expect long hours in the coming months.

“The only way to prevent rioting if people want to riot is by calling in the Army or National Guard,” said organizer Isaac Zambrano, who is president of the Los Angeles Youth Soccer League and plans to target Latino team members. “It’s a natural reaction to get angry. We’re trying to change the anger, and I realize it isn’t easy.”