Public Comments

Dear Members of the Colorado Congressional Redistricting Commission: I am writing to ask you to take another look at the current redistricting map. These districts are supposed to keep people with common interests together. I ask you to see what kind of common interests Boulder County has with Rio Blanco, Moffat, Jackson and Grand Counties? We strongly value ag and oil and gas, Boulder has showed time and time again that they have little appreciation for either of these entities. We deserve representation in Congress that isn’t forced to choose between our needs and the issues that matter to suburbia. I respectfully oppose the current map and ask for your consideration in revising the map to keep counties with common interests together. Thank you for your consideration, Stacey Gould

Please leave weld county to those of us in farming, we can’t grow food for the masses if we are swallowed up by over reaching city rules! We’ve worked all of our lives to provide for others, what will this state do without Agricultural?

Thank you for keeping Park whole and making the district fair with a 50/50 split of Republican and Democratic voters, that's democracy! Thank you, Heather Lynn

Thank you for your efforts and diligence at redistricting. I am a Larimer County resident and have deep concerns about the redistricting map released on Sept. 3. 1. If you keep Districts 4 & 8 in similar structure, please at least swap out Fort Collins and Greeley. Put Greeley back with Eastern CO (District 4) Put Fort Collins in District 8. • There is a big divide in agriculture between Fort Collins and the Easter Plains. As the woman from Morgan County and another man. said it well, they differ in community interests in schools, hospitals, and energy/ O&G. Fort Collins is NOT a community of interest with rural eastern CO; Greeley with its Agricultural focus is a much better fit. As Ms. Gabel said, big Agriculture/Greeley is a much better fit than urban Fort Collins. • I live in Fort Collins, but worked at Greeley’s County mental health center for many years and later, a private practice in Fort Collins. I care about people from both communities.. but the interest and cultural differences between the two communities are vast. Fort Collins and CSU are urban and now focused on Green Energy and new strict O&G regulations, mountainous regions with the related concerns such as BLM, Forestry lands along with wildfires, and school/community goals, Greeley is focused on agriculture and a culture & regulations that foster oil and gas development and different school and community goals. Federal congressional representation would be at great odds trying to serve the interests and culture of Fort Collins and the Eastern Plains. Both deserve strong representation at the federal level. 2. OR… a better fit is to put Fort Collins/Larimer & Boulder together in District 2. I concur with the points made by these speakers. • Tricia Canonico, Fort Collins City Council woman spoke to this. Do not separate Fort Collins from Larimer County. Reasons: It would impact Fort Collins negatively with federal representations. The relationship between CSU & FC is vital. Also we share fighting wildfires. Not the same level of communication as with the Eastern/Ag part of state. • Norskog spoke: Carving out Fort Collins, a County seat and a sliver off the border of Larimer County elsewhere will force the County to try to keep up communication with 3 different (federal) congressmen/women regarding CSU, water concerns, etc. • Hesse: Boulder & FC should be together in one district: common interest Education (CSU & CU have different fed. $ requests: NASA vs. Ag, but need congressional representation. He also said that Greeley fits better with Easter Co than Fort Collins. Larimer County should not be divided in 3 Congressional Districts. In addition, the shared community educational, geographical, level of industrial and cultural interests are much more aligned (than Fort Collins with rural eastern CO.) and deserve federal congressional representation.

It is a sad day for Colorado. Redistricting by putting some of western Colorado with areas including Boulder is just another plan to keep the Democratic party in office. Western Colorado needs to be one district that represents western Colorado NOT the self important liberal bias so common in places like Denver and Boulder! We need our own voice not the junk that is destroying our country! Essentially all or most of western Colorado represents a more balanced limited government with conservative values paramount. Keep us out of any combination with eastern Colorado period!

I believe the latest iteration of the redistricting helps my county by lumping mountain communities together. I live in Park County.

Registered voter from La Plata County, representing myself... I would like to amend my previous comments sent to the commission yesterday. After listening to hours of testimony on Zoom it felt to me like people were trying to couch their agenda to maintain a certain political stronghold of their party by saying over and over how their community had this interest in common with others etc,,,when in fact they were trying to promote their party affiliations to greater power in Colorado. I believe that the win-win solution for all of us is to consider the Amended LULAC Map but I feel that THE LULAC MAP IS TOO NEW AND PEOPLE HAVE NOT HAD A CHANCE TO CONSIDER IT. It is a great compromise to grant a more even distribution of the parties' strengths which is the point of Colorado Voters getting rid of gerrymandering. My choice for redistricting is the Amended LULAC Map for the following 3 reasons: a) LULAC is the League of United Latin American Citizens which is perhaps a large untapped resource for voter registration for Colorado elections. And with this map there will be more successful voter registration and get out the vote success. b) Makes the most sense long term...gets rid of the previous terrible gerrymandering in the most fair way. With this map all must work hard and this time the hard work will be fairly rewarded. c) Most competitive overall...CD8 will net a D+1 instead of a R+4% and CD 3 will get a respectable D+6 instead of a D+28,,,sounds awesome for one party but the LULAC Map will give all sides the chance for fair success for effort, what the Colorado Voter decided when we passed this to get rid of gerrymandering. To summarize I choose the Amended LULAC Map because for three reasons It enhances the ability for voter registration and getting out the vote in previously untapped areas. lt makes the most sense for the long term to encourage fair results per effort. It has a good balance of Republican and Democrat percent which is what the Colorado Voter desired by the voter outcomes.

Thank you for all the hard work in listening to the public input and trying to find good alternatives for dividing the Sate into eight congressional districts. There are many ways to divide it and none of them will satisfy everyone. I am a fourth-generation western slope resident living in Meeker, Colorado. I am actively engaged in agriculture and natural resource policy and have firsthand knowledge of how differently the rural communities and urban communities view these two issues. There is little understanding from either community about the other and no one could do an effective job of representing both. Therefore, combining Rio Blanco County with Boulder or any other front-range urban center is unacceptable. The Western Slope of Colorado should definitely remain as one district so that we can elect a representative that knows and understands our issues and needs. The Western Slope is definitely a “community of interest” with the following issues that are very different than urban issues. • Public lands – western slope counties have 40% - 90% public lands that are managed by federal agencies and every management decision impacts these rural communities. The multiple use of those lands are extremely important and the urban centers are typically at odds with the western slope on these issues. o Energy production o Livestock grazing o “Wild” horses o Wildlife management o Water o Special designations o Forest management o Etc. • Agriculture (food production) – the rural communities are the food producers that the urban centers rely on. There are many issues that the urban population do not understand regarding what it takes to produce that food. • Infrastructure – the rural communities needs for infrastructure are very different than the urban communities. If the Western Slope is one district, we will have a voice. If we have two districts that reach into the eastern slope urban communities, we will have two representatives elected by the eastern slope and living on the eastern slope with absolutely no representation and we will be silenced. This will give way to even more divide between urban and rural. We respectfully request that you go back to a map that ensures one district for the Western Slope. Thank you for your time and consideration of these comments.

Rural Colorado is a distinct district in Colorado. While our geographic size is greater than the urban areas of our state, the population masses lie in the Denver-Metro area and the front range. The majority of the voters come from urban areas and often dictate our lives, such as the introduction of wolves. They got to approve it, yet we ranching families in western Colorado will live with the predation and harassment of our livestock and livelihoods. The western slope of Colorado should not be broken apart into separate districts. I appreciate your consideration, thank you.

I am a lifelong resident of Grand County, and am opposed to any redistricting map or proposal that includes Grand County with any residents of the east side of the Continental Divide, or Front Range. Please consider keeping rural/ western Colorado apart from Front Range high density urban. Different people, different problems, different policies, different goals, different needs.