Public Comments

Please revert back to the Preliminary Congressional map. I feel that the changes that are being proposed stifles/eliminates the rural voters voice and does not reflect the common interests in my area. Thank you!

I urge you to reconsider the Second Staff Plan map. I have lived in a rural area of Colorado for 16 years, after living in a very large metropolitan area for over 20 years. The two areas are as different as night and day, and I can attest to the fact that they have different needs and challenges. Many of the people that currently live in rural areas are like me, in that they moved here from metropolitan areas, but conversely there are few people living in metropolitan areas that have a clue what it is like to live in rural areas. Please keep the rural areas intact, and away from the Denver and Colorado Springs areas so that we may be properly represented by the proper people.

The redistricting allows Denver residents to make decisions on behalf of rural Coloradans. Big city dwellers do not share a common interest with us. Whether you are living in Craig, Durango, or Yuma - these changes to the map do not allow our voice to be heard or our interests to be fairly represented.

The Rocky Mountains create a natural boundary between the eastern and western parts of the state. The Western Slope has a unique infrastructure, outdoor recreation, and tourism challenges that unify our counties and communities of interest. Our infrastructure is not mainly centered around growing populations as it is in the front range, but around the mountain passes, rivers, and lands that make up the Western Slope. The heavy snow and other similar weather patterns in the west also connect the similar needs for roads, which vary from the eastern and front range part of the state. The economy, with regard to tourism and outdoor recreation, of the western slope, contains almost all of the ski areas and encompasses what people think of when they think of Colorado: hiking, mountain biking, hunting, camping, fishing, skiing, and snowmobiling. Whether we are speaking regarding shared interests such as our energy grid on the Western Slope, or our values at home, rural Coloradans on the Western Slope cannot be fairly represented without the region being kept intact. Keep the West Slope whole.

I am opposed to redistricting for too many reasons to list, but first and foremost, this disenfranchises rural Coloradoans. Our needs are very different from city dwellers and we hold dear our natural resources. Don't divide the decision making on resource management - keep it under one district and one management source.

The current "Coleman map is perhaps the most biased towards the Denver Metro Area yet. Th Denver metro area comprises 55% of the state's population yet 75% of the drawn congressional districts (six of eight) have population bases in the Denver Metro Area. This map will silence the voice of rural Coloradoans. In a review by major Colorado political analysis firm, they estimate that this map will produce 7 Democrat Congressional seats and only 1 Republican seat within 10 years. Teller County is in Southern Colorado (below the Palmer Divide which is the geographical north/south in Colorado, and a rural, mountain county, yet we are placed with Urban Jefferson County and their 500K residents. Teller county has no communities of interest between us and Jefferson County. No employment links, no industry links, no educational links and no transportation links. The only direct link between these two counties to is a dirt road. Teller County has tremendous communities of interest with Southern and Western Colorado due to our majority federal land ownership in the county. Public lands, land use, mining, water and transportation are all links to the south and west if our association with CD5 is severed. This map also severs the communities of interest on the west slope and then places Boulder County, another Urban Denver Metro county in control of counties as far away as the border of Utah. Denver Metro should ONLY be included in 4-5 of the congressional districts, not six. The interests of heavily populated urban counties have few, if any communities of interest with rural, west slope or southern Colorado counties.

Thank you Commission members and staff, for all your hard work. I can only imagine how difficult this entire process must be. I am a registered voter in Pueblo County. I write today in support of the latest Tafoya map. This plan keeps Pueblo County whole and provides the necessary connection between Pueblo County and the San Luis Valley. The Tafoya plan provides for a more compact district than the Coleman map. The Tafoya map designs districts that maintain important communities of interest in Southern Colorado such as water, culture and history. I believe the Tafoya map provides opportunities for better government for Southern Colorado. I believe it provides for more competitive districts overall . All too often, those of us in southern Colorado feel left out. Had it not been for the 1921 Pueblo flood, things might have been significantly different for Pueblo and the state as a whole. Please don't forget us. Thank you \Mary Beth Corsentino Pueblo

Unfortunately, the first Staff Plan map released on September 3rd ignores the needs of rural America by removing rural counties in the current Third Congressional District that include Moffat, Rio Blanco, Routt, Garfield, Jackson and Grand counties and lumping them in with Boulder and Larimer, two counties with which they have little to nothing in common. This drastic departure from the current Congressional Districts is a disservice to both the residents of the Second and Third Congressional Districts.

I am opposed to redistricting for many reasons but one reason is the natural resources need to be kept under single management, not split up.

Hello - My name is Collette Bates. I moved to Colorado in 1977 and I have lived in the Denver Metro Area for 16 years, working in the Corporate World. I moved to Teller County in 1993, where the values of Rural Living best suit me, as I come from a strong Mining background and have always been very interested in hiking, camping, wildlife watching and the outdoors. I have just retired from the Water Well Industry where Mountain Water Drilling and Water Conservation is so very important to our Mountain Rural Community. As you must know, the values of Colorado's Rural Communities have very little in common with the Urban Front Range and the Denver Metro Area. I must be honest, this latest map appears to be a slap in the face of Mountain Rural Living and Southern Colorado residents. I am strongly appealing to your better sense of justice and fairness to keep the original preliminary map that speaks to the importance of Colorado's Rural Voice. Thank you,