Public Comments

Commioners: Please review the comments in the form of pdf documents that are downloaded, as attachments, in support of either a South-Central Colorado Congressional District or a Congressional District involving the Southern portion of Colorado. Please note: In order to form either of these district a portion of the population must come from El Paso County.

written comments are included in attached file 07-21-21 testimony

Thank you for your time and for your work on the Colorado Redistricting 2020. I’m writing as a resident of Wind Crest retirement community in Highlands Ranch. I wish to respectfully request that the Wind Crest community be included within only one legislative district, and not two separate districts as is currently proposed. In the most recent preliminary legislative district map, I notice that the Wind Crest campus would be split between District 22 and District 33. Wind Crest is a cohesive and concerned community of senior folks who live, eat and do activities throughout the campus. We also are very active voters. Having our community located in two districts would create confusion among a group of people who are and want to continue to be engaged in political activities.” Again, I wish to respectfully request that the Wind Crest community be included within only one legislative district, and not two separate districts as is currently proposed. Thank you for your work and help to enhance our political process. Jane Ives Wind Crest (submitted by email 8/17/21)

To Whom It May Concern, In the most recent preliminary legislative district map, we notice that the Wind Crest campus would be split between District 22 and District 33. Wind Crest is a community of senior folks who live, eat and do activities throughout the campus. We also are very active voters. Having our community located in two districts would create confusion among a group of people who are and want to continue to be engaged in political activities. Please take this into consideration. Thank you. Pamela and David Matthies Residents of Wind Crest Retirement Community (submitted by email 8/17/21)

Thank you for your time and for your work on this important issue. I am writing as a resident of Wind Crest retirement community in Highlands Ranch. I respectfully request that the Wind Crest community be included within only one legislative district, and not two separate districts as is currently proposed. In the most recent preliminary legislative district map, I notice that Wind Crest campus would be split between District 22 and District 33. Wind Crest is a community of senior folks who live, eat, and do activities together throughout the campus. We also are very active voters. Having our community located in two districts seems illogical. Rather, make an acceptance and draw a boundary line to include the campus as a whole. Otherwise, confusion will occur among a group of people who are and want to continue to be engaged in common sense political activism. The current proposal would not benefit either political party. Respectfully, Roland W. Flemming, Jr. Resident, Wind Crest Retirement Community (submitted by email 8/15/21)

The most important thing you can do is to create as many competitive districts as you can draw for US House, State Senate, and State house. That is the only way most voters have any say and have a reason to vote on representatives in the general election. Don Parker Golden, CO 80401 (submitted by email 8/15/21)

I wish to discuss the current debate as to whether Southern Colorado is a community of interest or Eastern Colorado is a community of interest. Prior to 2007, I had very little interest or involvement in Easter Colorado. I grew up in Dallas, Texas, where frankly you can meet someone one day and never see them again in your lifetime. I moved to Colorado City, just south of Pueblo in 1991. It enjoys a small-town atmosphere with quick access to Pueblo. My wife and I raised six children here. We moved to Kim, Colorado for four years and then returned. It is my observations of these four years that I would like to share with the redistricting committee. I was recruited as a teacher by the superintendent of the Kim School District. My children represented a 10% increase in the district’s student population so along with my Master’s degree I had many assets that were of interest to the district. My primary hesitation for the job centered on the size of the community. It definitely wasn’t Dallas. However, after a school board meeting around a septic tank, where the board discussed solutions to a blocked drain, I was offered and accepted a job. News of my hire spread rapidly throughout the community. My children were enthusiastically accepted and recognized not only in Kim but for quite some distance beyond. Eastern Colorado school athletics creates significant cohesion from the southern border to the northern border. Family, friends, and neighbors travel with their respective teams over long distances. They support the host school with their purchases and interact as friends. This was very unusual for me as someone from a large city. Quite frankly you have to live there to experience and appreciate it. When I became the superintendent of the Kim School District this became even more poignant. The schools are very interconnected through BOCES and topics of discussions among parents and school boards are surprisingly consistent. Most schools in eastern Colorado have activities that people from distances of more than a hundred miles come to. These “neighbors” are well known and interact as locals. When you live in Eastern Colorado it is quite possible to step into a store 150 miles from home and see friends you see all the time and have the store clerks know you by name. When Kim would have a “family dance”, people from over a hundred miles would attend like “locals” because they are viewed as locals. The COMMUNITY of Eastern Colorado truly became real to me through two minor family challenges. Both were automobile accidents. The first was a rollover in which I and three of my children received minor injuries. The second resulted in my wife and one of my children being trapped in a vehicle. In both cases, volunteers from great distances assisted. In both cases members of the “community” from more than a hundred miles away, called offering well wishes. The speed at which personal communication takes place, even without social media, is stunning. My point is this. The people of Eastern Colorado know each other. They have the same issues and the same interests. The people of Lamar know and do business with the people of Greely. The people of Fort Morgan know people in La Junta. This is the case throughout Eastern Colorado. It is simply different for Southern Colorado. The Eastern and Western parts of Southern Colorado simply do not have the social and economic interactions that the Northern and Southern parts of Eastern Colorado have. Eastern Colorado is a community of interest simply because it is truly a community. This community transcends partisan politics. Democrats and Republicans work together in Eastern Colorado because the people of the plains really do face life together. Sincerely Jonathan Ambler Colorado City, CO

consensus is just leave it alone

I have been a resident of the Knollwood community in Boulder for the past 31 years. The current districting, which pairs Knollwood and western Boulder in the same district as the mountain communities, makes perfect sense. My representative should also live in western Boulder--not in Lafayette or Longmont. This enables them to understand some of the challenges, and perks, of living in western Boulder. I have had to evacuate my house at least five times over the past 31 years due to wildfire danger. I have had numerous encounters with bears and other wildlife. I feel strongly that my representative should be someone who lives in a similar environment and understands the challenges of living in western Boulder. This will allow the continuation of the excellent fire protection and other applicable measures (e.g. bear-proof garbage cans) that I have been so lucky to receive in the past. Thank you.

I am against changing Summit County to the 3rd congressional district. Summit County is not a rural, agricultural oil rich area similar to other western slope counties. The remaining ranches continue to make hay to keep their water rights active, not to feed their no longer existent cattle thru the winter. Summit County priorities are much more related to the front range issues such as housing cost inflation, recreation in the national forests and health care priorities. I have never heard anyone say they should have a right to carry their firearms into their local dive bar, but that is an issue in Rifle as well as other 3rd district towns. Radical republicans just want to dilute the voter base of Summit County into a red district.