Public Comments

Broomfield is one community of interest and should not be divided by redistricting.

I am a senior citizen living in unincorporated Jefferson County and have an interest in redistricting, but when I see the complex processes involved and with my lack of competency in Digital maters thought I would send some comments to staff. I am in my mid 70’s. I want to emphasize a couple of points. 1. To the extent possible maintain respect for political subdivisions of the state. Do not break up neighborhoods, municipalities, counties, simply to keeps districts looking pretty and having right angles. Compactness should be important jurisdictionally and where people form a community. Streets do not make communities, but school districts might. Ethnicity is important and economic status is important. I grew up in North Denver. It was different that Adams County the other side of 52nd avenue, and the City of Wheatridge, the other side of Sheridan. North Denver was not where the Stockyards and Globeville are. If is not south of Sloan’s lake. I encourage staff and the commissions to take into account how people living in communities see themselves and put the lines together to solidify the neighborhood concept and group neighborhoods, not street systems together. Major traffic lines divide communities not enhance the neighborhood commonality. I find it difficult to attend public meetings but would hope a public information office has an ability to convey information from the public to decision makers and ask that you do so with my thinking and expression of it. I authorize you to forward this to appropriate parties and processes at your discretion. An oversimplification of my hope and recommendation is to use the process and authorities the various decision makers have to maintain and protect citizen collaboration to make the geographic area they and their families live in to be collaborative, not neat lines. Common sense shows what belongs together. Politics are intended to create winners and losers. Elections are for politics. Reapportion and district lines should emphasize what belongs together and what common interests communities have. The most divisive things I have observed in my 7 and a partial decades to community in the Denver metro area were: Major roadway construction along Interstate 1 70 which cut off small pieces of Northwest and North Denver from city center, The splintering of the city by I 25 particularly North of West Colfax and the abandonment of neighborhood schools due to racial disparities in quality of education provided. An alternative could have been investing more per capita per student investment in lagging neighborhood schools. All of these led to community degradation and loss of commitment to where people live and what their needs are. Geography and compactness not blacktop and wide streets should be the mainstay of the redistricting process with population equity. Follow community lines as defined by the communities themselves not by techies. Combine communities when necessary but do all possible not to disenfranchise them to keep straighter lines or more compact districts. I realize I am not following the prescriptive processes, but hope I can convey a thought to staff . Truthfully, I found the complexity of the on line information to be be too onerous for me to have the patience or ability to master. I am hoping you will consider this and find a way to get the concept forward so the decision makers can have the thought added all the input they receive. I know staff has an ability to add to the process by mentioning things to other staff or to board members. If anyone wants to talk with me I have a lot of free time. As an aside. The creation of special districts to avoid annexation or incorporation of municipalities was the most divisive legislative action in Colorado to the essence of neighborhood and community and was done to imply city and town government was not needed and taxes could be lower. A lot of metro Denver’s problems are a direct result of letting profit be more important than long term issues. (submitted by email 9/17/21)

Why are you flipping HD52 & HD53 from the traditional East-West to a new North-South divide? Have you been to Larimer county? This arbitrary north-south divide disrupts our school district and the communities of interest that live foothills versus I25 corridor. If it is established that Timnath and Wellington have more in common with CD4 instead of CD2, why destroy that harmony in our legislative map? Please keep HD52 & HD53 along the traditional east-west divide instead of pandering to partisan gerrymandering along a north-south border.

I am commenting solely for myself. I grew up in a small town in northeast Texas, and have lived in Montezuma County for almost 12 years. Many people assume rural counties are all alike, but in fact, in my experience they are all different and this seems particularly true of Western Slope counties and those in southern Colorado. I urge the commission to adopt the Schuster map as it is a creative map that meets the constitutional requirements of population size and preservation of communities of interest. I believe one reason that some people are resistant to it is that rural people tend to be resistant to change, preferring the "devil we know" over other considerations. The Schuster map may strike them as too much of a departure from the current congressional map, particularly regarding CD 3. Although there may be some comfort in staying close to the current configuration of CD 3, it's a principle of evolution that change and adaptation are beneficial. Don't let the resistance to change from some deter you from thinking 10+ years into the future, and being visionaries. The changes illustrated by the Schuster map will be beneficial in ways we can only imagine, and will certainly bring greater vitality to the communities in CD 3 in terms of evolving economies, cultures, and voices.

The Shuster map is the best option for Colorado to have competitive districts that maintain communities of interest. Not perfect but supportable.

I feel it’s important for Summit County to be stay connected to the front range and the I-70 corridor from the east. CD 2 in the third staff map is the best community of interest.

Looking at the 3rd Staff Plan, it really bothers me that the far northeast parts of Westminster are in the 8th district rather than in the 7th with the rest of Westminster and Broomfield. The neighborhoods in this area have much more in common with those in the rest of Westminster and with Broomfield than they do with the communities east of I25.

I would like to see competitive redistricting over non-competitive. It just makes more sense to give people a real choice instead of party lines winning their districts all the time. Thanks for your consideration, Sincerely, Barb Davenport

Jeffco being broken up and added to district 4 and district 6 doesn't make sense to me smack dab in the middle. I understand what you are trying to accomplish but I think taking the southern portion of Jeffco makes more sense to me. Many of us in Conifer/Aspen Park have similar needs and requirements. High grade, Deer Creek, Turkey Creek are very similar in nature.

I have huge issues with the map released on Sept 23. I am in Wellington and thus more aligned to Fort Collins than the eastern plains. I would like to request that Wellington be put in the same district as Fort Collins. Wellington is basically a bedroom community of Fort Collins. Everyone in Wellington works in Fort Collins, does their shopping in Fort Collins, or does their socializing in Fort Collins. I find it inconceivable that rural areas to the north of Wellington are put into the same district as Fort Collins, yet Wellington is not.