Public Comments

The latest version of State senate district 16 combines Douglas County with Gilpin County and excludes Boulder County. I reside in Gilpin County. Gilpin shares many interests with Boulder County including a school District and wildfire concerns while we have almost nothing in common with Douglas County. Please include Boulder Jefferson and Clear Creek with Gilpin County

Broomfield is one community and needs to remain that way for our cohesiveness and solidarity.

rPlease do not split Boulder County in three ways. It essentially destroys our voice in state politics. This is a truly bad idea! Please reconsider! Residents of Boulder County have more in common with each other than the rest of the state. I hope you listen1 Julie Phillips, Boulder

Very simply....different demographics need different representation...the same coach doesn't represent both teams in the super bowl...the same atty. doesn't represent both the prosecution & the defense in the same legal action....the same representative can't represent effectively the interests of rural Colorado & the big cities & the resort communities....they each need their own representative to represent their unique interests.

I am so very disheartened by the new legislative maps that have been presented. I feel like there is no common ground of understanding and representing the vast, agreeable rural Western Slope and communities. Counties have been split unnecessarily and the senate map needs a LOT of work. I serve in many areas of my community and deserve to have my voice heard, by elected members who relate and understand my concerns our rural community. I am in full support of Club 20’s suggested map! It continues to unify our communities of Interest, not dividing communities and neighborhoods!

Dear Commissioners, Thank you for the work you are doing but I do have some concerns still about the Legislative maps regarding Delta County in particular. I would like you to review the prior notes and testimonies that live in Delta County that were written before this change. We would all would like to keep Delta County whole. That means all of Delta County should be with Mesa County. Thank you

Dear Commission, I am very disappointed in the latest rendition of the redistricting map which moved Eagle County out of CD3 and into CD2 with Boulder and the front range. We desire Eagle County to remain in CD3. We have nothing in common with the front range or the urban communities. We have commonalities with western Colorado; we are rural, ranching and resorts and are west of the continental divide. Even our schools are designated rural. Our water flows west; we have related water concerns. We need representation by a person is concerned about and will fight for our rural wester needs. We do not want to be represented by someone who has split their alliance between two non-related communities (urban and rural). Additionally, It appears that a very tiny portion of Eagle County remained in CD3. This was not obvious at all. This represents approximately 20% of our county. We really need to stay whole for unity and our common interests. Please move all Eagle into CD3. Additionally, why is it that regardless of the map version it appears that every district has a portion of the I25 corridor. Can this just stop? Not all districts have any relation to the folks that that live along the I25 corridor. They have different needs. Let them and us be represented appropriately. In closing this applies to both Routt and Eagle County. Both counties need to be moved into CD3 so that we can remain with like minded communities, resources, interests, and be represented by someone committed to the rural. You can accomplish this by removing Pueblo, Otero and Crowley. These counties have more in common with Eastern Colorado. Please keep the western slope whole. The first map presented June still appears to be the best map thus far. Jennifer Woolley Eagle County

Dear Commissioners, I would like to comment on the Congressional Redistricting particularly focusing on District 3. The 2nd Staff map makes more sense then the first Staff Map. The First Staff Map for District 2 and District 3 especially, was totally illogical. Having Moffat County with Boulder seemed an outright effort to suppress any voice of those in agriculture or ranching. Also Boulder nor any metropolitan city has nothing in common with Moffat County or any other county on the Western Slope. The population of Boulder would totally govern all that goes on in Moffat County. Not fair. The 2nd map seems much more fair to Western Colorado with all the common interests, agriculture, the water sheds, farming, cattle ranching, hunting etc. If you are trying to use a minority as a major factor for splitting any county or region up, I would rethink that process as that comes across Racist in my humble opinion. The majority of the reason to put a district together is for like type activities. Doesn't matter what ethic group is there, it's the common interests, your lifestyle and environment is what draws people to where they live. Same thing with the Plains region in the East. I hope you will listen to those of us who actually live here when you make your final decision. Please, I think the 2nd Staff Map is the best. Thank you for all your hard work.

Hello, I believe it would not be in the community interest to split the City and County of Broomfield into different districts. I believe that generally the residents of Broomfield think of ourselves as one community and should be represented by the same Congressional representative.

To whom it may concern: My name is Laura Daniels and I live in Mt. Crested Butte, Gunnison County, Colorado. I have lived here since 2009. In my time in Colorado, I have worked in the service industry (hotels, restaurants, landscaping, nannying). I have worked in outdoor recreation (Crested Butte Nordic, Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association). I have worked in retail. I have worked as a teacher and a coach in our public schools. I have served on nonprofit boards, and I currently serve as the Chair of the Gunnison County Planning Commission. In these diverse roles, I have gotten to know Gunnison County well. I am deeply familiar with our outdoor recreation-based economy, our public lands, and our families. It is these experiences and knowledge that provide the foundation for my comments on the current draft maps of our Colorado State and House Districts. I have serious concerns about what the current draft maps mean for Gunnison County. Let me start with the State Senate map. In this map, Gunnison County is grouped with Delta County, part of Mesa County, part of Garfield County, Rio Blanco, Moffat, Routt, Jackson, Grand, and Clear Creek counties. While Gunnison County is indeed next to Delta, and Delta is next to Mesa, and Mesa is next to Garfield, which then reaches up to form a natural geographic block with Moffat, Routt, Jackson, Grand, and Clear Creek, it is a serious stretch to say that Gunnison County is contiguous with any of those northern counties as the district is currently proposed. Looking at the map of proposed Senate District 8, Gunnison is a strange peninsula surrounded by 4 other senate districts. It is a hard sell to argue that this version of the map honors contiguity for Gunnison County, and it is certainly not compact. More concerning with proposed Senate District 8 is that Gunnison County is severed from its neighbors and its communities of interest. Gunnison County has an economy based in outdoor recreation tourism. We have a strong ranching community, a strong college, a strong hospital, and a strong ski resort. We are diverse in our needs. This diversity of needs is present in counties like Pitkin and Eagle, with whom we previously shared a senate district. It is NOT present in counties like Mesa, Moffat, Garfield, Delta, and Jackson. While Routt county has a similar combination of economic drivers as Gunnison, these two counties are vastly different from the surrounding counties in proposed senate district 8. Lumping them together does not respect the unique characteristics of our outdoor recreation/tourism-based economy. When considering questions posed by the redistricting commission, it is clear that proposed senate district 8 does not have a community of interest that includes Gunnison County. Gunnison County is united by outdoor recreation and a deep respect for our extensive public lands. Gunnison County is concerned with how to balance a tourism-based economy so it works for everyone, including having a robust workforce that can afford housing in our communities. The economics at play in a ski resort town are unique and pressing. We need to be grouped with other counties--like Pitkin, Chaffee, Eagle, or Summit--that are facing the same concerns so that we have some chance of representation. We are also concerned with protecting our public and conserved lands so that they will be there in perpetuity to support our outdoor recreation economy, which is very different than communities that are focused on resource extraction. Gunnison County is surrounded by 5 wilderness areas and includes 2 million acres of public lands. It is rimmed by mountains and is the home of the Gunnison River. The northern communities of Gunnison County (Crested Butte, Mt. Crested Butte, Marble) are geographically isolated by mountain ranges that make them difficult to access. These physical characteristics make our geography, and thus our economy and culture, very different from Delta, Mesa, Moffat, etc. Please do a better job of placing Gunnison County in a senate district that is contiguous with our neighbors and that better reflects our County’s unique characteristics and interests so that we can have fair, adequate representation in the Colorado State Senate. Now, onto the proposed state house of representatives map. You have proposed to split Gunnison County straight down the middle, east to west. In what world does this constitute keeping communities of interest together? Grouping the eastern half of Gunnison County with Park and Teller Counties--satellites of Colorado Springs--absolutely severs our neighbors from each other and lumps them in a house district with folks whose concerns are vastly different than ours in rural, high alpine Colorado. This current map proposes many split counties, dividing many communities arbitrarily into two parts. In what world does this respect their communities of interest, to have 4 counties split apart to create proposed house district 58? This splitting creates the opportunity for divisiveness and confusion. While I recognize that splits can be used to keep communities of interest together at times (like watersheds), this east-west split of Gunnison County does not do this. For the last 10 years Gunnison County has experienced a north-south split in which we had one house district for the northern part of the county and one for the southern part. This is an example of a split that actually made sense, because it allowed us to have shared interests within each respective district. Gunnison, with its college, hospital, and airport, shares many characteristics with Durango, and thus had a representative who could speak for this. Crested Butte, with its national forest, high peaks, and ski area, shared many characteristics with Pitkin and Summit Counties, and thus had a representative who could speak for this. In the proposed district 58, Crested Butte, a recreation-based, high mountain community is grouped with other counties which are very different geographically, economically, and culturally. Rural Coloradans need representatives who can speak on behalf of their communities’ interests. For us in Gunnison County, we are united by our outdoor recreation tourism economy and public lands. We are concerned about climate change, water, higher education, and our resort economy. We need a voice who can represent these interests. The current proposed house district 58 robs us of this voice. It links us to counties that do not share our common interests and concerns, counties that are much more populous, thus watering down our voice even further. If we are going to have a voice in the Colorado state legislature for the next 10 years, a voice that represents our interests, we need better maps that keep our communities of interest united. I understand you are facing a very difficult task. You have many factors you are weighing for many different communities in the state in making your decisions. If it comes down to it and Gunnison County has to be split, please split us in a way that makes sense. We have been split north-south for the last 10 years, and we can do this for the next 10. Although not ideal, this split would allow our high alpine and resort community to be linked north with other similar counties with similar concerns. It would also allow our southern portion--distinguished by higher education and ranching--to be linked with communities to the south (like Durango or Alamosa) that have similar concerns. The preliminary state district maps that were proposed kept us united with our neighboring counties and more unified communities of interest. Please reconsider this preliminary map since it has a district that makes sense for us, and at the very least, please don’t divide us from our neighbors in this arbitrary east-west way for the house district or in this reaching, contrived way for the state district. Thank you for considering my comment. Laura Daniels