Green Is Odd Man Out in Reapportionment : Redistricting: Norwalk senator’s 33rd District would be parceled out to others. But he leaves the door open to reelection.

State Sen. Cecil N. Green (D-Norwalk) is a politician in search of a home.

Under a reapportionment plan released last week by Senate leaders, Green’s Norwalk-based Senate district would be shifted to Palm Springs and Northern San Diego County.

Norwalk and other parts of Green’s existing 33rd District would be parceled out to different lawmakers.

At a Capitol news conference, Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said Green disliked the proposal and anticipated that his colleague would not seek reelection next year “if the lines become the law.”

But Green, a former Norwalk city councilman who has held the seat for four years, is not prepared to slam the door shut on his political career.

Green acknowledged in an interview after the proposal was made public that he was unhappy with the way his district would be reconfigured, but said he has no plans to leave politics. He was ambiguous, at one point saying he should be considered a candidate for the Senate, and at another point saying he intends to leave his options open and could seek an appointment to an unspecified state commission.

The districts of Green and Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena), who now represents North Long Beach, are among the most radically changed in Southern California in the reapportionment plan unveiled by Roberti and Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy (R-Fresno). The plan is based on the 1990 Census and is a once-a-decade exercise to ensure an equal number of residents in each of the state’s 40 Senate districts.

Dills’ district would lose most of his longtime South Bay constituency, including North Long Beach and Compton, which he fondly calls “Dills Country.” Instead, his district would swing east into the San Gabriel Valley from the Lynwood area. The changes in Dills’ district, as in Green’s, are prompted by requirements of federal law and court decisions not to dilute the voting strength of Latinos and blacks.

Other highlights of the plan for the Southeast-Long Beach area include: Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach) would represent most of Long Beach and Lakewood; Sen. Frank Hill (R-Whittier) would pick up Cerritos and Downey; and Sen. Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles) would add Compton. Beverly’s and Greene’s districts needed to add population because they were short of the 744,000 residents required for each Senate district.

While there are wholesale changes in geography, party affiliation among registered voters in area districts remains virtually unchanged, meaning that the seats continue to favor one party or the other.

Whether the new state Senate political map is adopted remains in doubt. The plan is still subject to fine-tuning before it is voted on by lawmakers, who are scheduled to redraw Assembly, Senate and congressional lines before recessing for the year on Friday.

At stake in the plan is control of the state Senate, where the breakdown is 26 Democrats, 13 Republicans and 1 independent.

A look at Southeast and Long Beach area districts shows:

* The 24th District of Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) would retain Vernon, East Los Angeles and South Pasadena, but lose Maywood, Bell Gardens and Commerce. The district’s Democratic voter registration remains around 65%.

* The 26th District of Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier) would undergo an overhaul. It would retain Pico Rivera, El Monte, Irwindale and La Puente. But the district would lose Temple City, Rosemead, Alhambra, Monterey Park and Montebello. It would pick up Azusa, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, Artesia, City of Industry, parts of Whittier and West Covina. The district would continue to have a 60% Democratic voter registration edge.

* The 27th District of Sen. Bill Greene would continue to cover much of South-Central Los Angeles and Watts but add Carson and gain all of Compton. As drawn, it would lose Bell, Cudahy, Huntington Park and South Gate. It would remain one of the most strongly Democratic districts in the state with a voter registration of 81% Democrat and 11% Republican.

His colleagues have said that Greene, who has suffered a string of health problems in the past two years, is likely not to seek reelection. Greene could not be reached for comment.

* Beverly’s 29th District would continue to cover parts of the South Bay and most of Long Beach, adding Hawaiian Gardens and Lakewood. It would lose El Segundo. Voter registration would remain almost unchanged, with Republicans making up 46.2% of the district, compared to 48.4% under the current lines.

* Dills’ 30th District would retain only Paramount and Lynwood. It would lose Gardena, most of North Long Beach, San Pedro, Wilmington and Carson. The district would pick up a number of small cities with heavily Latino populations that have sought to be placed in a single district. They include Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, Bell, Bell Gardens and Commerce. In addition, the district would include the San Gabriel Valley communities of Alhambra, Monterey Park and Montebello.

* Hills’ 31st District would retain Whittier, Brea, Diamond Bar, La Mirada, Hacienda Heights and parts of West Covina. It would add Cerritos, Downey and parts of Lakewood and Bellflower. While still considered safely Republican, GOP voter registration would drop from nearly 54.5% to 48.2%.

* Green’s 33rd District would be shifted entirely out of Southeast Los Angeles County and moved to Poway and Lemon Grove in San Diego County and Blythe, Temecula and Palm Springs in Riverside County. Although Green’s existing district is considered a swing seat, winnable by either party, the new district would be safely Republican with GOP voter registration at 52.5%.

The changes in Green’s and Dills’ districts are sparked by changing population patterns, which meant that Los Angeles County had to lose representation to fast-growing inland areas.

At the same time, Roberti said, the county’s increasingly Latino population warranted a third Senate seat with a majority Latino population. Currently, the districts held by Torres and Calderon have Latino majorities.

But, Roberti said, “just as clearly, the numbers warranted preservation of the two existing black districts” represented by Bill Greene and Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles).

Roberti said Dills’ district faced “a grand-slam of problems.” The shape of the district was affected by the requirement to preserve voting strength of Latinos and blacks and not weaken Asian voting strength in the Gardena area, as well as needing to pick up 41,000 people to hit the 744,000 required for Senate districts.

“That’s why his district was the one so radically reconfigured,” Roberti said.

Likewise, Roberti told reporters, his district needed to add more than 113,000 people, and the voting strength of its heavily Latino population could not be diluted under federal law.