Public Comments

I am opposed to redistricting Boulder County. I’ve lived here 26 years and care deeply about stewarding the land, resources and community of Boulder County. Climate change issues are urgent and best addressed with the current mapping. Thank you for NOT redistricting.

My input is generally in support of the staff map that was released on 9/3/21 and strongly opposed to the Lafoya map that splits my home district of Boulder County into three separate Congressional Districts. It is absolutely critical to safeguard Boulder’s communities of interest that share critical environmental needs and climate goals (including how we respond to natural disasters such as the major fires, droughts and floods that have become our new normal), urgent transportation and infrastructure priorities, critical economic interdependencies, public health concerns (including most recently our collaborative response to the COVID 19 pandemic), and keeping our communities safe (which has become a key priority following the recent massacre of 10 Boulder residents at a local King Soopers market). The greater Boulder community is made up of a complex and collaborative set of diverse communities of interest (city, suburban, mountain, rural) that must be able to continue to work together with representation by a shared Member of Congress. Zooming out from Boulder County to consider the overall needs of our state in this important redistricting process, I can offer the following observations on the most recent staff map: * making CD2 a more NW district will help give rural Coloradans better representation and combine mountain communities in order to extend urgent environmental attention westward; * it is important to keep all of Summit County’s Gateway to the Rockies communities of interest together in CD7; * the proposed changes to CD3, which honor the historical ties between the Pueblo & the San Luis Valley, is a positive step in reuniting these important communities of interest and making it a more competitive district; * it is critical that the new CD8 reflect the reality of CO’s population shifts over the past decade, so I generally support it as proposed to include important minority communities along the I-25 corridor. Thank you for taking the time to consider my input and for your important work serving all Coloradans on this redistricting commission. Respectfully submitted, Bernardita Z. Hutchinson Boulder, CO

On the one hand, I think handing redistricting over to a non-partisan commission is the fairest way to go. But until it is implemented across the country, I have a hard time yielding the power of my blue vote to the wind. We are at an inflection point in our country in which the GOP is aggressively moving to take and hold power with no regard for our democracy or the will (and health) of its citizens. They have poisoned the minds of tens of millions of American voters with lies, scare tactics and even suggestions that it might be a fair decision to take up arms against fellow Americans. I am a Democrat because I believe in fairness and justice for all. I believe in being kind to one another and endeavoring to understand those we disagree with. But I feel like right now I'm throwing rainbows at bazookas. It's time to face the cold reality that if doing the righteous thing means getting steam-rolled by bullies who want to suffocate our voices in order to impose their values on us (no abortion, ignoring climate change, voting restrictions, pitting civilians against one another, strengthening white power, etc.), we need lower the righteousness temperature enough to save the planet. Please don't split up Boulder County and run the risk of ceding the blue power we need to save our democracy and what's left of our sanity.

Dear Commissioners, I live in CD-2 and have a few comments about the current proposed redistricting map. I think that the map of CD-2 which includes Boulder County and the northwest portion of the state does support our community of interest. We share concerns about climate change, water, fire etc. I do not like the proposed map revision from Commissioner Tafoya, which splits Boulder County into 3 separate districts. This will divide our community unnecessarily. Looking at the state map as a whole, I would like to see Summit county kept together as part of CD-7. Summit County is the gateway to the mountains, and a logical community of interest. I like the fact that the new CD3 includes Pueblo and the San Luis valley, honoring historical ties and giving minority voters a voice. Thank you for the hard work you are doing to make these maps fair, so that all of the residents of our state have good representation. I hope that Colorado can be a model for other states, and will encourage other states to create maps in a less partisan way in the future. Yours, Faith Gowan

Boulder County should not be split up into different districts! We have similar interests within the County and the splitup is an attempt to weaken the influence Boulder County voters have.

To Redistricting Committee members: Thank you for your commitment to public service. I am only one voice, I understand. Still I hope you will reconsider parking out parts of Boulder to 3 districts. I cannot understand your logic — unless members of your committee feel Boulder’s population is too educated and therefore those of us whose parents worked hard enough to send us to college, therefore making us qualified enough to be able to give our offspring the same benefit need to be rebuked in some way. From WWII until recent years, we Americans were people who dug in to solve problems that life presented us. Now, oddly to me, an increasingly large percentage of us prefer to be angry and complain, rather than working together to solve huge problems like hunger, air pollution, and providing for our families. I suspect it is voices who resent eduction and feel that those of us who worked 40 to 80 hours per week, or more, for our lifetime are to be resented and reviled. I am not speaking as a member of the very rich, only as a woman who worked 60-80 hours/week to put my own children and grandchildren through school and see them on their way to being responsible citizens. So why I wonder, are members of the commission swayed to chastise hard working community members like me by denying us the opportunity to elect representatives of our choice. If your current redistricting proposal becomes law, I will be casting one vote amidst hundreds of voters who do not share my concerns for future generations of all Americans. Please reconsider your decision to parce out pieces of boulder to rural populations North, East and West of Boulder. Thank you, Alexandra

Obviously not everyone is going to be happy and no one wants to see their area split. The reality is a split is going to happen somewhere because of our population centers. Rural Colorado has the least influence voter wise and the most to lose if the Commission follows the lopsided and ridiculous first Staff map, pretty much ignored Section 2.2 item 4 regarding equal voter representation. Explain how NW Colorado has equal voter representation by being in District 2 with Boulder. The Gallery map under the name Moore looks more balanced than anything else if the population balance is close enough. It splits my District and Douglas County which I am not happy about but like I said not everyone is going to be happy. Splits are going to happen so why not focus on the front range area population and redraw Districts 1,2,4,6,7 and the new 8 around the metro area and make everyone equally unhappy and stop protecting special interests.

R remember U urban R rates A agriculture L last Please help save RURAL Colorado when you start changing the map.

I find it incredible that you would even consider splitting Boulder County into 3 districts! We have so many common interests & organizations already developed around environmental, cultural, & transportation goals. We need them to continue their coordination in recycling, mitigating & fighting wildfires, public transportation etc. Please do NOT split us up!

The map of CD2 including Boulder and the North west supports communities of interest working together on policies of climate change concerns, forest fires and water conservation of interest. Note: I am currently in CD2. The map of CD3 that includes Pueblo in the San Luis Valley supports historical ties and minority voices for Hispanic populations. I suggest uniting all of Summit County into CD7 as our gateway community to the Colorado Mountains I also support CD8 in the Northern suburbs to include minority influence along the I-25 corridor.