Public Comments

Commissioners: Thank you for your exhaustive efforts to invite public input on this important redistricting process and propose Legislative and Congressional district maps which appropriately serve Colorado's various communities of interest. I would like to urge you to support adoption of the Preliminary Congressional Plan which was published on June 23rd. This original proposal appropriately keeps whole the Western Slope community of interest -- Colorado's most well-recognized and logically-defined community of interest. I submit to you the attached letter from the 70-year old Western Slope advocacy organization, Club 20, which very clearly articulates the seemingly obvious and inescapable rationale to keep the Western Slope within one congressional district. With all due respect to the valid considerations of other maps which would divide the Western Slope community, it is absolutely baffling to me how anyone could reasonably argue that dividing the Western Slope community somehow better accomplishes the goal of grouping "communities of interest". The Continental Divide is MUCH more than simply a geologic reality; since before Colorado's statehood, the Continental Divide has defined a shared CULTURE that spans the entire Western Slope community from Pagosa Springs to Walden, and includes common interests in natural resource management, management of federal lands, shared transportation goals (the shared challenge which led to the creation of Club 20 in 1953), shared tourism opportunities, and economic development strategies. While there are certainly diverse and disparate interests across the Western Slope, that diverse community -- including the rancher in North Park, the resort owner in Durango, the Republican in Craig, and the Democrat in Frisco -- shares the greatest common geographic bond of any community in our great state. It simply makes NO SENSE to divide the Western Slope community of interest. I am puzzled and dismayed at the most recent "Third Staff Plan" (released Sept 23rd) which proposes to divide the Western Slope and (among other peculiar ideas) place the counties of Jackson and Grand (my county) in the 2nd Congressional District with Larimer and Boulder counties -- counties with which they share ALMOST NOTHING in common (beyond their shared interest in containing last year's East Troublesome fire which lept the Continental Divide). The community of Walden and Jackson county has a more common interest in many respects with Carbon County, Wyoming, to the north, than it does with Boulder county on the other side of the Continental Divide! Placing the communities of Jackson and Grand counties in the 2nd Congressional District with Larimer and Boulder counties will relegate those communities to being an after-thought in terms of Congressional representation, with only the hope of an infrequent (and politically-correct) campaign stop to pacify their interests. Please keep the Western Slope community of interest WHOLE and within one shared Congressional District. Thank you for your consideration of this input.

I believe that it is important for our legislative districts to be well-aligned within our watersheds. Delta County has an abrupt divergence between the Gunnison and Uncompahgre watersheds. While we are neighbors, we are not as one when it comes to allocation of water resources. We are strongly in support of keeping the upper Gunnison intact, and as organic farmers in the North Forth, we recommend the commission endorse HA 005, or HP 002, or HP 003. Each of these maps meets criteria important to us.

Dear Colorado Redistricting Commision, I live in Paonia Colorado, and produce most of my own food. My contribution to this planet is running a small beautiful community where our values are: #1. precious clean water, #2. clean air #3. Good health. #4. an beautiful environment filed with life where we love to live and hike in As a retired Commander in the US Navy, and a soil/permaculture expert, I want to do anything possible to keep fracking at bay which obviously uses our precious water, pollutes our water and air, ruins the highways, exploits the population and its resourses. I support the proposed maps by Commissioners Greenidge, Hass, and Buckley. I want the North Fork of the Gunnison River to remain intact, by using the draft Senate District 8 map, keeping Delta and Gunnison County in the same district to keep the North Fork of the Gunnison River Basin intact, not reflecting communities of interest with Garfield, Rio Blanco, Moffat, Routt, Jackson, Grand and Clear Creek counties. I ask that you revisit the competitiveness of these districts, as competitiveness was not considered in these draft maps. I am asking that you do everything you can to keep fracking away from out precious community.

To whom it may concern, After seeing the most recent proposed map, I've got to say this is a tragic compromise to give the Colorado state to the Republicans despite them not winning any majority votes in the recent Presidential elections. The key area where you can really see the commission trying to silence the Democratic majority is by throwing Fort Collins and other liberal cities into Weld County. Weld County has nothing to do with the values found in Fort Collins, and we can clearly see that in how both Larimer and Weld have responded to the COVID pandemic in terms of schools, mask mandates, and vaccinations. Throwing Liberal cities into deeply red districts is giving Alt-Right leaders such as Lauren Boebert a stronger base that has not been earned in any recent election. Even her win was a narrow margin and this map only seeks to strengthen the Alt-Right. While I don't believe the commission wishes to return Denver to the KKK as we were in the 1920s, it's hard to see this map as anything but a blatant acceptance of the shared principles of the KKK and the modern Alt-Right. That is not what Colorado stands for and not what the majority of its citizens believes in. I truly hope that the proposed 3rd draft is thrown out and redrawn in an effort to represent Colorado accurately, rather than this gerrymandering that's being taking advantage of the independent commission that Coloradoans voted for. I personally do not accept "the big lie" in 2020 that Trump won, however this 3rd draft, if accepted, will only hurt the publics trust in any voting process in the state going forward and will damage our reputation as caring about free and fair elections. I truly implore whoever is listening to abandon this 3rd draft and don't silence voters by misusing the law we passed for a balanced districting map.

Thank you for your time and effort in this critical endeavor. As I look at the recent staff map, I'm curious why Mesa County and Pueblo County remain locked in the same district. I support something different. The cities of Grand Junction and Ft. Collins have much more in common in my mind. Grand Junction is home to the growing and influential Colorado Mesa University. The CSU Extension located here provides support and education that influences how we think about agriculture. I hope you will give real consideration to the Schuster Map or something similar.

Regarding the congressional map: As I live in El Paso county I agree the fifth district should remain centered on Colorado Springs. West of Colorado Springs, there is a cultural divide that the Third Staff Plan better reflects. The I-70 corridor is quite different from the counties to the south, especially the Highway 24 corridor. Thus, the Third Staff Plan makes more sense to me than the second version. Regarding the legislative maps: For the Senate districts, the First Staff Plan is much more reflective of the city of Colorado Springs then the Second Staff Plan. In particular, senate district 2 in the Second staff map unrealistically groups downtown Colorado springs with the southwest area of the city, including Fort Carson. In addition, my house would be in the 10th Senate District, but my work and social activities connect me much more to downtown than the eastern portion of the city. In this way the First Staff Plan was quite accurately reflects my experience. I work and play downtown, and more frequently drive up Highway 24 than down Highway 115 for recreation etc. Similarly, for the house districts, my experience is that the neighborhoods north of Fillmore and Circle going to Academy Blvd are better connected to the downtown area than to the eastern portion of the city. Thus, the First Staff Plan better reflects my experience in town than the Second Staff Plan, which places me in house district 15 instead of district 18. Thank you for all your amazing work on this!!!

I am writing to request that you take a close and careful look at the proposed Schuster map. This map, which I have studied closely, puts Mesa County and its flagship university, Colorado Mesa University, in the same district as Fort Collins and its university, Colorado State University. In addition to having two towns with universities, both cities have been working hard to diversify their workforce and embrace outdoor recreation. The Schuster map gives folks on the Western Slope two districts instead of one gigantic district stretching almost to the Kansas border. The Western Slope, contrary to what some believe, is not a monolithic entity and represents various communities of interest. This map creates a southern district, which is important in keeping communities with Spanish heritage and agricultural interests together. Additionally, even though creating competitive districts is only Number 4 on your list of requirements, this map provides us with THREE competitive districts, requiring politicians to be more bi-partisan and appeal to more voters than just a very vocal minority. I am from Mesa County, have lived here since 1976, and respectfully request that you consider the Schuster map prior to giving approval to Staff Map 3. Sharon Vander Velde Fruita, Colorado

We need the redistricting.

My community is environmentally aware of our beautiful surroundings. We tend to get left out on the Western slope of considerations about water and land protection. I would like to see redistricting based on climate change and housing the unhoused and basic human needs. We have a diverse population which doesn’t always have a voice. All of these concerns will have to be attended to by state legislators. I would appreciate attention to renewable energy sources. We can work together with the proper representation. Thank you for your time.

I am deeply disturbed to see your latest map for State House putting my close neighbors, just one block away, in a different House District, even though we have always been part of the same city. I refer to the northwest part of Longmont, which has always been part of H.D. 11, but on your map is moved into H.D. 13. The proposed line cuts right through not only my city, but my neighborhood. I cross that line very frequently to visit neighbors and to get to my neighborhood park. All the social, economic, and cultural factors that make up our community are the same on both sides of the line. This is a blatant example of dividing up a political unit and a community of interest. Please reconsider this inexplicable decision. Thank you.