Public Comments

I do NOT support the 2nd Staff Congressional Map for these reasons: 1 The 2nd staff map defines the competitiveness of CD 3 as +10 for Republicans. That is not competitive. What politician, with a 10-point advantage, would drive hours to Las animas County from the Western Slope? 2 The 2nd staff map is not compact. Its L shape is long and wide. A. It would be difficult for a representative to visit and assess the needs of constituents. Southern Colorado contains 13 of the 15 poorest counties in the state. Southern Colorado needs attention. B. Southern Colorado lacks a four-lane highway running east to west and dependable broad band connectivity. These limitations would make it difficult for a Congressional Representative to reach out to constituents and very difficult for constituents to make contact with the Representative. From Craig to Durango to Trinidad is about an 11-hour trip. No other Congressional district has this problem. C. The huge district dilutes our community of interest in Southern Colorado and the voice of Pueblo. Rural is not the same rural. Needs of rural Southern Colorado are not the same as rural Northwest Colorado. 3. The 2nd Staff Plan does not address river basins and does not stress water I support the Tafoya’s p.005 map, the Headwaters Map 1. Tafoya’s p.005 contains the headwaters of the SCRB (Southern Colorado River Basins). Water is life in Southern Colorado. Our rivers are stressed. Blue Mesa is currently at 22% of normal. Emphasis on federal policy and federal aid is essential to protect this critical source. Tafoya’s map does this. 2. The compact Tafoya map preserves the vital community of interest in Southern Colorado and makes contact between constituents and representatives easier. 3. CD 3 is more competitive with the Tafoya map Teresa Grunewald, Las Animas County

Dear Commissioners -- Thank you for your service to the State of Colorado in redrawing the congressional maps in an equitable and non-partisan manner. I am writing you out of concern for the most recent 2nd staff draft congressional map's continued inclusion of portions of Douglas County in the 4th congressional district. As residents of Lone Tree in far northern Douglas County, we have been in the 4th district for years, quizzically aligned with the communities of Sterling and Pritchett, rather than our immediate neighbors in Highlands Ranch mere feet away. The community interests of our suburban area have not been adequately represented by past inclusion in the 4th district, and I was pleased that the Preliminary Plan of June 2021 tentatively included the northern portions of Douglas County in the 2nd district. In the current 2nd staff plan, those residing in northern Douglas County are a stone's throw from the proposed 6th district north of County Line Road yet would be aligned with areas of the state over 300 miles and a four hour drive away. South suburban Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree and Parker are indistinguishable from our nearby suburban communities of Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties in terms of employment, industry, transportation, public health, education etc., yet would be represented primarily by the interests of rural and agricultural communities of the eastern plains. The June 2021 Preliminary Plan was a far more accurate representation of the shared interests and public policy of the suburban communities of this portion of the Denver metroplex. I urge the Commission to reject both the 1st and current 2nd staff plans to include all and/or the northern area of Douglas County, including Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree and Parker, in the 4th district. Please strive to keep our increasingly diverse, populated and compact suburban area proximate to our neighbors to the immediate north and/or west so that we may have appropriate representation in Congress -- rather than with remote areas of the state with differing economic and policy interests. Thank you again for your service -- your efforts are greatly appreciated by the citizens of Colorado.

Keep the Western Slope whole. The front range should not be districted with Eagle County. They do not represent or share our interests.

Hello, my name is Brita Horn. A mom, ranchwife, and volunteer fire chief. I have lived in Routt County for over 30 years and have been married to lifelong rancher Gary Horn and raised two daughters. I have also been the Routt County Treasurer and Public Trustee and severed on the Routt County Planning Commission as the South Routt Representative. I am speaking for myself as a land owner and registered voter. With all due respect, this legislative staff one map for the western slope is simply impossible! Chopping up so many western slope counties! The senate map is riddled with problems. Mesa and Delta should not be split. Clear Creek has very little in common with our rural western slope. The mapping is extremely odd, insensible and not compact. SD 5, SD 8 and SD 6 is on its face; non-competitive. As for the House map, it has even more problems. Connecting Rio Blanco, Moffat, Routt and Jackson with Larimer is a non starter. How are four counties on the west side of the Rocky mountain to travel to the east side of the Rockies mountains? To be in the same House district. The major route is to travel to Wyoming and back to Colorado. If we head down that path of going in and out of state to get back into the same house district, we need to seriously consider moving the northern state line to Laramie Wyoming. This house district is a geographical nightmare. Even the water shed runs opposite directions. The receivers and providers of our precious water would be in the same district. The Legislative map is unbalanced, non competitive and non geographically correct. This is not how it works. This is not how any of this works. I request the staff go back to the drawing board and keep all of western slope together. No more gerrymandering our rural voice for the next ten years. Thank you.

I prefer the first redraw of the southern district as it retains geographical contours relevant to southern colorado.

What the heck. Loveland has nothing in common with Greeley and Weld County. This map does a great disservice to almost 80,000 residents in Loveland. Ken Buck will not represent the citizens of Loveland as his views are far afield from what Loveland is and needs. You need to reconsider this latest map and put Loveland back in District 2.

I am in favor of the previous Tafoya 5 map. None of the others take into account the unique issues SW CO faces, and being a sprawling L shaped district is unwieldy, as well as disproprortionate. Las Animas County deserves better.

The Second Staff Plan for CD7 does not provide a significant population center in Douglas County for CD7. Please consider adding at least one Douglas County community (Castle Pines, Castle Rock, or Roxborough being the most likely options). You can accomplish Castle Pines or Roxborough (or both!) through a three-way-swap 1) take Crowley and Otero from CD3 and place them in CD4 and 2) move Lake and Custer from CD7 and place them in CD3 to balance step 1 and both steps will provide the ability to 3) draw more of Douglas County into CD7 by removing it from CD4.

Lumping Pueblo, Las Animas, Otero and Crowley counties in southeastern Colorado - mainly Hispanic communities together with northwestern Colorado counties such as Garfield, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Mesa - makes very little sense. These two groups of counties have very little in common in terms of populations or interest. This will serve to diffuse any impact that the three southeastern counties have on the reminder of this very large district. I think that northeastern Colorado counties and southeastern Colorado are so different as to not belong in the same congressional district. Pueblo, Otero, Crowley and Las Animas counties should be grouped into a district that would better represent their communities and their interests. A Congressional district of southern Colorado, say south of I-70 (but not including El Paso, Mesa or Teller counties) stretching from the CO/UT border to the CO/KS border would make much more sense.

I really believe that the best redistricting is the Tafoya water and redistricting plan. We don't have a lot in common with the western slope. Please choose the Tafoya plan thank you .