Public Comments

I believe competitiveness of districts should be a very high priority. Too many safe districts have contributed to the extremism in politics today.

So your trying to tie Fort Collins residents with Weld county? Including down to both far north eastern and south eastern areas? I know you guys are trying but seriously? I have lived in Weld county and now Larimar and it couldn’t be more different. We have completely different approaches and opinions on government and yet you want to force us all together? Would you ever dare dream to do this to the likes of Denver? Boulder? The Springs? Absolutely not. This is a blatant attempt to shove Foco in with a completely random district because you’d rather stick is with Weld county than dare encroach on whatever the hell Steamboat Springs wants. This is a disturbing development and I can’t believe this is the best you could come up with. This map needs to be better and improved, with the citizens needs and desires met; not what’s convenient and easy. Thank you for taking the time to read my message

Hello. I'm submitting a proposal that combines elements from the two draft maps. This map aims for a Western Slope-Eastern Plains split rather than a north-south split. This map also keeps Boulder and Fort Collins together. Three of the districts would likely be competitive. Here is the proposal: https://davesredistricting.org/join/e5a7a877-2662-4ae3-ab06-6618978ed030

Commissioners" When we were listing to the Commissioners meeting on Monday August 30, 2021, we heard a disturbing comment from one of the Commissioners who said he could not support a Southern Colorado District because it was “not Good’ for Colorado. What was upsetting about this comment was that in essence he was dismissing South-Central and Southern Colorado as part of the State of Colorado. Let’s us make this perfectly clear, if it were not for the efforts of the people in Southern Colorado, there probably would not be Colorado as we know it, and at least not the refuge from other parts of the US where people have migrated to here because of the beauty, lifestyle, and open space. Because Southern Colorado may not an everyday participate in activities of the Denver Metro area does not make Southern Colorado any less a major part pf Colorado nor does it make Southern Colorado less significant than the rest of the state. Please stop trying to put Pueblo County in the Western Slope of Eastern Plains congressional district we belong amongst our peers in the Central of Colorado. . As to how this is accomplished, please review the maps that are in the pdf document and look at the section on “Where does Colorado Live? In this PDF our preference in this document is the South-Central Colorado Congressional District with from the Continental Divide to the Kansas border would be the 4th Congressional; District, the 3rd Congressional District such include the entire Western Slope and portions of Larimer County including For Collins, and of course this plan is designed to place El Paso County into two different Congressional Districts in which they will have the opportunity to be represented in Congress with two seats. We in South Central Colorado wou;d just like to be represented by people we know, have our best interests in mind and do so in a political competitive environment. Thank You Thomas McKenna On behalf of the Concerned Citizens of True Southern Colorado

I am opposed to this re districting, there is a very different way of living in the plains vs the front range

Larimer County and Fort Collins work well together to make our community an awesome place to live. Deliberately changing our community by diving it up to group with Weld County residents? Bad choice for both communities. It will make for an ineffective district that will be chaotic and ungovernable, leading to extreme politics. Splitting a district to dilute our votes is unforgivable. We need to work together, splitting the district provides only disenfranchisement for community members and voters.

The people in the latest congressional redistricting proposal for the 3rd District have much in common: federal lands (3 national parks, national grassland, national monuments, national forests); agriculture, outdoor recreation, and tourism are the bases for most of the economy; 5 state universities; important watersheds (Arkansas, Colorado, San Juan, Rio Grande); multi-ethnic populations, including sizable populations of people of color and indigenous; and important urban areas (Grand Junction, Durango, Pueblo, Montrose). Water rights and water uses are two of the biggest public policy concerns for the whole region. Health of rural communities and economies is also a critical issue for this area. We think that the latest proposal addresses many of the concerns expressed by citizens at the Alamosa public hearing held a few weeks ago. Thank you for considering this input and, especially, for all your hard work on redistricting.

The newest congressional map places Fort Collins in District 4 and the rest of Larimer County in District 2. In my opinion (maybe because I do not understand the reasoning), this makes no sense. Fort Collins most definitely leans Democrat and the rest of Larimer County leans Republican. Your map means nobody in Larimer County will have a representative that represents their values since the 4th district is safe Republican and the 2nd is safe Democrat. If Larimer County must be split in this way, it should be Fort Collins in the 2nd and the rest of the county in the 4th. This should be easy since the population of Fort Collins is about one half of the county. So there would not be any population adjustments necessary. Please consider this option. Thank you Gerald E Bogard

I'm writing to question the wisdom of including most of Fort Collins in the proposed Distinct 4, which somehow includes much of eastern Colorado without including either Greeley or Windsor. This attempt to "balance" the district (I'm guessing) will lump constituents from wildly different areas of the state in terms of economics and politics together and will result in a trainwreck of conflicting interests between constituents that hold little in common with one another. This is a bad idea! Fort Collins is a Front Range city with deep Progressive roots owing to its historical proximity to the State capital, its cosmopolitan university and cultural identity, its tech heavy industrial base and the kinds of people drawn here for these attributes over the past half century and more. The eastern plains are a very different group of people with very different interests reflecting their agricultural economic base, rural lifestyle and conservative values. They certainly deserve their own representation, combined with more like minded people such as those historically included in Greeley and Windsor. In short, attempts to shoehorn these very different constituencies into one district does both groups a fundamental disservice, puts them squarely at odds with one another and will serve neither set of interests or residents adequately. While I recognise the need to create districts that balance demographic realities and political interests, I believe this can be done in ways that fairly and reasonably represent the needs and interests of its constituents. This is clearly an attempt to yank Ft Collins away from the Front Range region it has so clearly been a long standing part of and connive a connection with a part of Colorado with which it has little in common. Fort Collins is A FRONT RANGE CITY. Its Congressional representation MUST reflect that fundamental reality in order to properly represent its own dynamics, as well as those of a very different northeastern Colorado. I thank you for your hard work in dealing with a very thorny problem. Please don't sacrifice Fort Collins on the altar of political expediency.

I Agree with the Redistricting Commission. Summit County shares an economic, geographic and cultural community of interest with the Western Slope, and that’s where our representation in the U.S. Congress and the Colorado Legislature should be. Colorado's Front Range is a densely populated urban area of our state. We are not an urban center and our voices expressing our local concerns get drowned out by the high populations of Denver and Boulder. We have more in common on a wide range of policy issues with our surrounding counties and the Western Slope such as tourism, transportation, water, forest management, education and health care. For these reasons, I support including Summit County in the 3rd Congressional District separating us from Boulder and Jefferson counties. I support the proposed Colorado House District for Summit County. The proposed Colorado Senate District shares some of the characteristics of the House District but could be improved by including Park County with Summit County. I thank the commission for its hard work on this issue.