Public Comments

Thank you Commission for your hard work and attention to the redistricting matter, the work you are doing will affect Colorado for many years in to the future. I was raised in the Timnath area of Larimer County and still operate a business in unincorporated Larimer County. I moved to Weld County 15 years ago and now live in unincorporated Weld County close to Pierce CO. I would like to comment today to the importance of balancing districts so that they may remain competitive in to the next decade not solely based on the census data that came out today. Weld County is growing quickly in population but much of that population is settling in the urban corridor leaving the small and more rural communities with shrinking populations. Both of these communities I have spent my life in are still largely agricultural and rural. Keeping communities that share common interests and concerns together and close to their representation. Keeping Weld County as a rural community of interest seems the best way to preserve representation for the rural people. I also value the concept that all districts should be created to remain or even to become more competitive so that government naturally finds balance and works with all of the constituents in a district. Thank you very much for listening and as a lifelong resident at 53 I hope to see Colorado maintain balance between the rural lifestyle and the urban lifestyle as we all have a lot of interest in preserving the Colorado I grew up in.

Central Greeley has made great strides in cooperatively bringing together downtown Greeley with University facilities and functions and our near-campus neighborhoods. Town-gown cooperation is greater than ever. Our historic Monroe District, which includes Greeley founder Nathan Meeker's home between downtown and campus, and our Cranford and Glenmere neighborhoods, are homes to local businesspeople & UNC students and staff and faculty. The Commission's initial draft configuration of House District 64 appears to sever these near-campus neighborhoods, contiguous, just slightly west of UNC. This is ill-advised. The draft configuration of House District 64 runs contrary to two decades of town-gown cooperative effort, now the best I've seen in sixty years living in Greeley. It makes little sense in relation to well-established shopping and neighborhood connections. And it contradicts the way Greeley has traditionally aligned its municipal election Wards. Please seek to preserve a more core Greeley district that includes Greeley's downtown, all of the University of Northern Colorado, and, in a more compact way, our established historic near-campus neighborhoods just west of campus up to 23rd Avenue. Ken Weaver, board member of the non-profit Historic Greeley, Inc.

I applaud the legislative redistributing process for ending prison gerrymandering for our state districts! I urge the congressional redistricting commission to do the same. Incarcerated people should be counted and represented in their HOME communities. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Marrton Dormish Broomfield, CO resident

To: Redistricting Commissioners From: Rich Sokol and Kathy Turley Re: HD20, HD 21, HD 9 and other Arapahoe districts Date: 8/12/21 PROPOSED MAP: URL AT BOTTOM OF COMMENTS Dear Commissioners: Thank you for your efforts soliciting public input into the legislative redistricting process. We had the opportunity to present our thoughts to you at the Centennial meeting on August 3, 2011. We visited with each other after the meeting to develop a single plan that incorporates both of our views on western Arapahoe County and the communities that exist there. For the state House, we ask that you not draw the very eastern portion of Centennial in with the City of Aurora. The City of Centennial and its community interests are very different from those prioritized by the much larger neighbor to the northeast. From fire and police protection to water demands, Centennial is positioned much differently than Aurora, and aligned more readily with its municipal neighbors to the west in Arapahoe County. The current map of HD20 has significant physical geographic issues. There is no direct way to travel from the west/central part of HD 20 to the eastern part of HD20, as currently drawn. Passage is blocked by Cherry Creek State Park and government-owned undeveloped land. This swath of open land extends from Hampden Ave on the north all the way down to Arapahoe Road. As the map is currently drawn, from where I (Rich) live in Arapahoe, I would have to go miles out of the way to get from central HD 20 to eastern HD20. In fact, I would have to exit HD20 and go into another House district to get from central HD20 to eastern HD20. This open swath of land is bordered by Peoria Ave (which runs north-south). It is a natural geographic boundary and should be the eastern boundary of HD20. Furthermore, by removing portions of Centennial from an Aurora based district, you eliminate a city split and can draw a map that allows for a more natural division of the City of Centennial just west of I-25. This also allows western Centennial to be in a state House district with Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills Village, and portions of unincorporated Arapahoe County. As we expressed in our testimony, the University Boulevard corridor is the center of economic activity in our area and is currently the subject of a project co-hosted by Centennial, Greenwood Village, and Cherry Hills Village to better utilize that economic potential from Hampden Avenue on the north to County Line Road on the south. In our proposed map, eastern Centennial includes the Denver Tech Center and neighborhoods just to the west of DTC and runs to Centennial’s eastern boundary and includes Dove Valley and other unincorporated areas of Arapahoe County in between. It creates a strong, community based district that reduces city splits and respects Centennial’s city boundaries. While it wasn’t the subject of our testimony, we did outline in our proposed map a district in the very west of Arapahoe County that includes the cities of Littleton, Englewood, and Sheridan, which, together with adjacent parts of unincorporated Arapahoe County, have the population for a single, compact House district that respects the municipal boundaries of all three. The area of Arapahoe County to the east with eastern Adams County, in yellow, equals the population for another five state House districts. For the state Senate districts, we would like to see the three portions of Denver that come into Arapahoe County Senate seats be consolidated to one Senate district shared with Arapahoe County. Our proposed map incorporates our testimony at your Centennial meeting and represents sensible state House districts for western Arapahoe County. Please let us know if you have questions related to our testimony or the materials we’ve submitted. https://davesredistricting.org/join/6e638068-f27d-4163-8786-c7cdd7c0d098

Here is the link to my proposed map for the Aurora House Districts: https://davesredistricting.org/join/979a7d74-054a-438c-9c86-96db5caf190e

I am posting this comment in opposition of the proposed redistricting of Western Boulder County into Colorado's 3rd Congressional District. I am NOT a resident of western Colorado. I am a resident of Boulder County. I live in Jamestown 20 minutes from Boulder. I work, socialize, and shop in Boulder, Longmont, Denver and other "Front Range" communities. I have nothing to do with western Colorado. I don't share their interests, needs and desires as they do not share mine. It is absolutely ludicrous that I should be required to vote for candidates that do not represent me or my community that I would be unable to vote for candidates that do affect me and my community. It would the ultimate disenfranchisement of myself as a voter and as a citizen of Colorado. In truth I would probably not vote in state elections should this come to pass.

My name is JaVayne Jenkins and I’m from Jamestown, Colorado. I do not want the mountain communities of Boulder County to be redistricted into the western slope district. I live, shop, get my entertainment from and pay my taxes in Boulder County and want to be able to vote for issues that pertain to Boulder County. It makes no sense for these communities to have elected officials represent them when these representatives don’t share the same interests as the community members. I am not for redistricting whatsoever. Thank you, JaVayne Jenkins

Sirs, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed carve-out of Jamestown and other mountain communities in Western Boulder County for inclusion into the congressional district on the Western Slope. Jamestown and other mountain communities are strongly allied with Boulder by education, commerce, employment, geography, social attachments, and world view. The communities on the Western Slope share none of those with Jamestown. If population parity is the desired outcome it would be more practical to gain that from Western Larimer County since the ethos of the two are far more similar. Sincerely, J.S. McGinley Jamestown, CO

I am adamantly opposed to the redistricting plan which will split up the Front Range. We are a Front Range community; we live here, work here, play here, volunteer here, pay taxes here. We are an integral part of this community and vice versa. We have no common traits with the Western Slope: it takes 2.5 hours to get there, we don't live there, work there, volunteer there, pay our taxes there. We sometimes play there but same as we play in Crested Butte or Wyoming but I would not want either of those places representing me in our government. Our interests and concerns match those of the the Front Range communities. Splitting us from these communities would be a huge blow to our commUNITY!

Thank you for the time you are devoting to the redistricting process. You won’t please everyone, but I encourage you to be fair and impartial when considering your own political leanings. As concerns Douglas County, all parts should remain in one district, as the county is unique among surrounding areas, and the views of Douglas County should not be suppressed, just because it doesn’t conform to the views of surrounding counties. Again, thank you for your time, and best wishes for the large job you are undertaking!