Public Comments

As a resident of Broomfield whose children are 3rd generation in our community, I urge the committee to not divide the community of interest, the City and County of Broomfield between congressional districts. Broomfield became a County 20 years ago, specifically because we were not well served by the four counties were previously part of. It would be a disservice to our community to split us up once again.

CD3, as drawn in the preliminarily plan released in June, made great improvements that unified communities of interest and shared public policy concerns. Tourism, education, public health, education, transportation, water and other mutual issues of concern for our residents were well represented on that map. I was excited about the possibility of a district that ensured the people of the Third District were well represented and connected. Unfortunately, the first staff plan released September 3rd decimates the rural voice in northwest Colorado and disregards the critical communities of interest that make up the fabric of western Colorado. These recent changes to the map ensure that residents on the other side of the mountains and in Denver who share little in common with us are responsible for making decisions on behalf of rural Coloradans. 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. Thank you for your time.

I strongly feel we should revert back to the old congressional maps. The new districting will group rural Colorado with urban Colorado. In doing so it will virtually give all voting power to the highly populated area, negating rural Colorado's say in rural Colorado issues. Please do not push this agenda through to silence rural Colorado.

To split the Western Slope in any way would compromise the unity required to properly represent water interest in the region. While Federal lands belong to all Americans, the responsibility of preservation fall upon those who live closer to those lands. Multiple uses of these lands consist of livestock grazing to energy extraction to outdoor recreation; including hunting. Hunting brings in a lot of revenue to Colorado. Here in the West End (Nucla - Montose Co.) hunting and livestock grazing is all we have left. Those that oppose mining and power plants were successful in closing our coal mine and our power plant: that plant was one of the cleanest coal burning plants and it could easily have been changed to burn anything. Our voice deserves to be heard and we need representation in Congress whose constituency does not have divided priorities. Keep the Western Slope whole!

Please consider that the Rocky Mountains create a natural boundary between the eastern and western parts of the state. The Western Slope has 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 kinds of 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. It is because of these reasons that I support the preliminary plan for CD-03 released in June. 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. Having lived in Boulder County from 1985-2005, I am aware of the unique needs of the Front Range community. The representational needs of the Western Slope are as different as the lifestyles - this is rural America.

I am not happy with the Senate map the staff drew Sept. 13. Pueblo County has always been split in two parts. That gave us the opportunity to have 2 votes. The Sept. 13 map puts the entire county into 1 senate district. That deletes our voting power in half. Looking at the map, it appears many county’s are just one vote counties. Larger counties have multiple votes. Doesn’t seem quite fair. Please give Pueblo county 2 votes.

You will be completely silencing the rural conservative votes. I know that is your goal but please take mercy on us and reconsider. You will be absolutely killing the rural Community. We deserve to have a say too

I am in disagreement with these new redistricting in Colorado. The west & south slopes should NOT be part of the Denver metro. These ares are different in culture & economically and should be left alone. For these areas have nothing in common with the Denver metro!

Agriculture and rural Colorado are a community of interest in our state. Consider them in the mapping of our congressional and legislative maps. Start over with the preliminary maps and please designate agriculture as a community of interest.

It is very important that rural/agrarian areas be separated from metro and suburban areas as our interests are vastly different than those in those areas. From north to south, all of eastern Colorado is similar in community interests and should be together.