Public Comments

The First Staff Plan proposed map will hurt communities like Fort Collins and Larimer County by diluting the voting power of both the city and the county. A city like Fort Collins has little in common with the remainder of the proposed District 4 and will likely land the city with a representative who does not share the interests of members of our community like government agency employees, students, and the scientific educational community of Colorado State University. A similar situation is likely to arise by combining Boulder with a large part of the Western Slope. The proposed map does not make districts competitive, but rather divides up groups with shared interests, diluting our vote. The preliminary map proposed back in June was much more equitable and representative of the demographic concentrations within Colorado, and I urge you to revise the proposed map more along these lines.

Regarding the placement of Fort Collins in District 4 in the First Staff Plan redistricting map released on September 3rd - as a Fort Collins resident of over 10 years I believe this version is a step backward from the preliminary map released earlier this summer. I feel in almost every way that I and other Fort Collins residents are significantly more a part of the community as outlined in the first map than that includes Boulder, Longmont, Estes Park, and Roosevelt National forest than the eastern plains. I work in Boulder with coworkers from Boulder, Longmont, and the surrounding communities. We are interested in the development of the technology and outdoor recreation industries and higher education in the region. I spend weekends and money camping or recreating in Rocky Mountain National Park and Red Feather Lakes. I go to local businesses and restaurants in Loveland and Longmont and Estes Park. I got to barbeques and birthday parties in those communities. I know people from and spend time in every part of the preliminary district. I believe that our concerns and needs are similar. The district in which Fort Collins is included in the second map is almost completely the opposite. I have driven through the northern part of that district a few times a year at most to travel out of state. I have never stopped anywhere in that district but gas stations. I have lived in Colorado my entire life and have never ever been to the southernmost part of that proposed district. I don't know anybody from there. I don't know anything about its history or its culture. I know very little about the main industries or economics of the eastern plains. If you asked me to name 5 larger towns or cities other than Fort Collins in the proposed district I could name 3. I don't believe that a Representative could effectively represent and address the needs of the people in Fort Collins as well as the communities of the entire eastern plains. Thanks for all the hard work to this point and for your consideration of my message.

What you've proposed for Fort Collins is laughable. If you think the voters of fort Collins share interests with rural communities the entire way east and south to the borders of the state - you need to come to Fort Collins. This is purely to dilute the voting power of Fort Collins. It's grossly partisan.

I'm concerned about the latest redistricting map (9/3/21), particularly District 4 incorporating Fort Collins but not Greeley. The interests and needs of Fort Collins are more aligned with other Front Range municipalities along the I-25 corridor, such as Loveland and Longmont. Fort Collins has a strong rural/urban divide that means our city is competitive unto itself; joining Fort Collins with a highly rural region with a strong agricultural base means our city's specifically urban needs (e.g., public transit/infrastructure, natural resources, open space, water, etc.) will be ignored. District 2 would be a better fit for Fort Collins because as the county seat, our city's interests align more with other cities in our county, most of which are to the west and currently in D2. The current map seems like there was a compromise -- D4 would give up Greeley if it got Fort Collins, despite the fact that Greeley's needs and interests are more in alignment with the other counties and municipalities in D4. At the end of the day, I believe that a representative for D4 as it looks on the 9/3/21 map would underserve large portions of the district regardless of which party were to win. I would be more open to this map if we had ranked choice voting rather than winner-takes-all.

I am a resident of western Fort Collins, and find the decision to move the city as a whole to CD 4. I have been a Colorado resident since 1966, and have lived in communities across the state, from Fort Collins to Boulder to Colorado Springs to Grand Junction to Craig to Denver. In reviewing the proposed maps released on September 3, your reportedly nonpartisan committee has failed to account the common interests of Fort Collins as the county city and population center with the remainder of Larimer County. Likewise, moving Greeley away from common interests with northeastern Colorado fails to recognize its importance to residents of those regions. Call it gerrymandering if you wish, but your plan makes little sense and suggests inherent bias. I work for a nonprofit organization based in Greeley, and our organization works with residents of seven counties to the Nebraska and Kansas borders. I regularly communicate with Chambers of Commerce in these northeastern Colorado communities in my role with this organization. Excluding Greeley from these communities in Congressional representation is a massive disservice. Placing the city within a district dominated by Boulder means the residents of Greeley, including a strong Latino community, will have little voice in national affairs. Likewise, my home in Fort Collins is about a mile from the western boundary of the proposed CD 4, and yet your commission in its wisdom suggests my neighborhood has much more in common and in interests with the residents of Springfield, near the Oklahoma border. According to Google Maps, a drive of 308 miles to Springfield from my home will take nearly five hours in optimal traffic. Yet, I can walk to homes outside my proposed district in less than 20 minutes. How does this make sense in representation? I imagine that a resident of Springfield agrees they have very little in common with Fort Collins, other than we are both residents of Colorado and the United States. Reviewing your maps, the committee is clearly pandering to particular special interest groups who do not have the interests of fair representation and the State of Colorado in mind, but who seek an oversize influence in politics. There also is suggestion your committee is seeking to destroy the political careers of more than one representative, to tip the scale of free and fair elections in one manner or another. At this point, the committee members should tender their resignations and ask the State of Colorado to appoint new representatives of the People of Colorado to create fair and equitable Congressional Districts that recognize local interests and geographic areas. Otherwise, the committee shall be known in infamy throughout history.

While I appreciate the committee’s dedication to creating competitive districts, the most recent map released would be devastating for my community of Fort Collins. The new district includes the entire eastern plains with Fort Collins. This complete carves out the seat of Larimer County from the rest of the county (I understand that this is for congressional districts but I believe that it would still negatively affect Larimer County as a whole). Additionally, Fort Collins has nothing in common with the eastern plains. A representative elected from the eastern plains counties would not have the best interests of Fort Collins in mind and vice versa. The eastern plains deserve representation more aligned with their concerns and Fort Collins deserves the same. Please reconsider this when moving towards a new map. Thank you.

The proposed congressional redistricting sucks because that puts Lauren Boebert in our district and we did not vote for her and we don't trust her nor believe in what she represents. Can we vote again for who represents our district if these changes occur? Anyone that believes the insurrection on the United States capital is ok, is un-American.

Please do not carve out a front range city like Fort Collins and put it in a district with south and eastern Colorado like you have done with proposed District 4. I know you are trying to make districts competitive but you absolutely need to consider making districts compact and include similar towns and communities in a district. Fort Collins has nothing in common with extreme southeast Colorado. You cannot sacrifice communities and their needs and interests for the sake of balance alone.

When the voters passed Amendments Y and Z it was to have an IMPARTIAL panel for redistricting. It looks like voters like me have to now sue to have our rights protected. In addition, the panel is trying to sneak things past the voters. As an example; you have the virtual meetings in under upcoming meetings but don't have it in the "Speak to the Commissions" section where you would normally sign up to speak. If you have to be present to speak, you should still have a link with the virtual meeting and specify that you have to be present. You could put a check box that the person attests they will attend in person. Had I not dug deeper, I wouldn't have know I can attend virtually. When I see the map released yesterday (September 3, 2021), I see the commission trying to stack heavily Democratic regions with Republican regions to offset the numbers. I pulled the map from the 2020 election on counties that went for Biden and Trump and I'm totally disgusted with the impartiality of the redistricting process! Other than the primary goal of gerrymandering what is the secondary consideration, population or needs? The needs of Jefferson County is vastly different than the needs of the more remote Park, Teller or Freemont Counties. A large portion of Jeffco is front range and we commute to the Denver Metro area for jobs, supplies and entertainment. We have a cabin in Chaffee County so I know how different the needs and the lifestyles are. That being said, bring it on... Bobert or Neguse, not even close! I also know the same situation for Boulder County. You are doing a disservice of putting Boulder in with Grand of Moffit Counties. Their needs aren't even close. Let's put Boulder in the 8th District. I would submit my own map but it's not loading because I don't have the INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE TO LOAD IT!! PS, I'm not a Democrat!

Fort Collins should remain in the same district as its county. It has key concerns related to urban development, housing, and economy that are completely different than the Eastern part of the state. Likewise, those in rural areas should be able to decide what issue matter to them most and have their representatives focus on that (presumably agriculture, rural industry, education, etc.). They also have different tech infrastructure needs (e.g., digital divide, etc.). Further, it doesn't make any sense to remove the county seat of Larimer County (Fort Collins) from the rest of the county. How is the county supposed to function as a community when it's lead by different representatives? The June map was far better in creating borders around communities with shared concerns/issues.