Compton Mayor Offers Plans to Ease Tensions : Race relations: He calls for an office of Latino affairs and a better affirmative action program. Some Latinos remain critical of the city’s black leaders.

In an effort to quiet tensions between African Americans and Latinos in Compton, Mayor Omar Bradley called this week for a more stringent affirmative action plan and the creation of an office of Latino affairs.

Bradley also made several other proposals Tuesday night, during the first City Council meeting since the videotaped beating last month of a Latino teen-ager by a black police officer. The incident sparked a series of confrontations between Latinos and African Americans and led to the formation of the new Latinos United Coalition, whose representatives appeared at the council meeting.

The coalition, which includes members of various Latino activist groups, was created in hopes that the growing and diverse Latino community could begin speaking to the city’s African American power structure with one voice, members said.

Coalition leaders said they have requested meetings with Bradley for the past month--during the City Council’s annual August break--but were ignored or turned down. Bradley contradicted the group’s account, however, saying one Town Hall meeting had to be canceled because of fear of violence and another, organized by the coalition, was called on short notice and conflicted with his schedule.

Bradley’s proposals for a tougher affirmative action plan and an office of Latino affairs will be reviewed by city staff and then will be considered by the council. Other suggestions from the mayor, including a request for an analysis by the Police Department of all reported cases of physical abuse by officers, can be implemented without council action.

But signaling that tensions are still high, about 25 members of the coalition abruptly left the meeting as Bradley quoted statistics designed to show that Compton does not discriminate in hiring. The figures mostly illustrated the city’s record in hiring outside contractors.

The coalition members’ sudden departure was apparently in response to a police officer’s attempt to remove a couple of them who were angrily shouting, “That doesn’t mean anything!” at Bradley’s statistics.

“That’s just great. You see? They don’t want to listen,” said Councilwoman Marcine Shaw as coalition members left the room. “Let them go.”

A few of the coalition members came back to the meeting after about 10 minutes, in time to hear Bradley’s proposal.

Besides the office of Latino affairs and the affirmative action program, Bradley suggested hiring a Spanish interpreter for council meetings and arranging a series of talks between city and school district officials to discuss security on campuses. Many people voiced concerns at the meeting that racial tensions would result in fighting between African American and Latino students--as it did last year at all three Compton high schools.

Some of the mayor’s recommendations did answer demands made by coalition members, they said. But they said they were worried when Bradley said that federal funds would be needed before some of his suggestions could be carried out.

“I don’t believe this city needs extra federal grants for affirmative action,” said Pedro Pallan, past president of the Latino Chamber of Commerce and now president of the new coalition. “We can’t afford not to have an affirmative action program, one with schedules and timetables showing how affirmative action will be implemented by attrition in City Hall.”

There are no Latinos on the City Council. Among city employees, including the fire and police departments, 78% are black and about 11% are Latino. Officials estimate the city has a 51% Latino population.