Public Comments

As a 20+ year resident of Routt County, I would like to state for the record that I like the districting as it currently stands regarding my home county. The symbiotic nature between Steamboat Springs and the rest of the county is best served by keeping it united (not separated out). The county keeps the city "in check" and functioning as "its best version of itself." Our current state of integrity and connection actually diminishes any polarizing potential. I hope that you will take my perspective into account as you have these districting discussions and decision-making. Sincerely, Marianne Capra

I want to thank the commissiom for its good work on former District 59 which will now be District 52. It will be much more like the common agricultural interests and make travel for the representative so much more feasible not having to deal with 3 mountain passes especially in winter. Also, for the Congressional district, the plan should consider the interests of western CO and how different it is from front range cities. The representative should share our interests in farming, ranching, hunting, fishing, and preservation of the beautiful landscape we have been blessed with. This area has a much slower and relaxed way of life than those who live on the front range.

Western Teller Country shares essentially no communities of interest with the majority of state Senate district #8 except that it is largely registered Republican. This violates the provisions of communities of interest.

Dear Commission & Colorado Citizens, I want to begin by thanking the commission for working on a near impossible task. My background is in spatial data science, and I appreciate the effort it takes to analyze and prepare these maps - especially in the wake of the pandemic and delayed census results while trying to meet the mandate deadline for redistricting. I’m also grateful to the citizens of Colorado for approving the this initiative, since many citizens across our nation do not have the luxury to participate in our republic in this fashion. I want to testify against the proposed 4th district. The proposed district fails the criteria for a balanced, competitive district with communities of common interests for the same reason for that the 3rd failed our region. The 3rd was largely a “leftover” district with few cohesive communities of interest. The commission should have received a proposal for a different district - a Southern Colorado community of interests. It captures the ag lands and their watersheds to their headwaters. It best captures the geographic, cultural, historical, economic, and geographic groups and values of our region. I’ll be happy to share this proposal with the commission or any interested citizens. Thank you, Deacon

RE; State House redistrict proposal I reside on a mesa approximately 5 miles southwest of the town of Paonia, Colorado. My mailing address is 11491 3800 Rd, PAONIA, Co 81428. In the proposed House redistricting my residence, along with my immediate neighbors would be separated from the town of Paonia which is included in District 55 and placed in District 53 which encompasses nearly the entire southwestern portion of Colorado including towns more than 200 miles distant. Such redistricting completely deprives me and neighborhood of the community attachments we have with Paonia and the North Fork Valley of Delta County. Our focus is on agriculture, recreation, and primarily the watershed of the Gunnison River. We have nothing in common with the large urban area of Montrose, or the arid desert of the 4 corners region. I implore you to use the southern boundary of current House District 61 in any redistricting so that we will have the same representation as our neighbors. The entire North Fork Valley is better suited to be included in District 54 as we share common watershed and economic interests with our neighbors to the east. Re: State Senate redistrict proposal The proposed Senate redistricting places my residence near Paonia along with our nearest towns of Paonia and Hotchkiss in District 6, separating us from the County seat of Delta which would be included in District 7. This completely ignores the sense of community we share with the rest of Delta County and deprives us of any influence in county decisions since Delta proper will be subject to decisions made by a senate member representing communities up to 200 miles distant. The North Fork Valley, along with all of Delta County share community interests focused on the Gunnison watershed, recreation, ranching, and agriculture. These interests coordinate much more closely to the geographic areas placed in proposed Senate District 34.

I oppose the redistricting of Western Boulder County Mountain Communities to join them with west slope communities in District 3. Who is my community? All of Boulder County is my community. I live in Jamestown. I work at Boulder Community Health. I am retired from teaching at the StarHouse. The ties of the mountain communities in western Boulder County to each other and the plains is over a century old. They are generations deep and strong. When disaster strikes, and we've seen a lot, the entirety of the county responds. In the 2013 flood, and the 2020 fires it was Boulder, Longmont, Lafayette, Erie responded and took us and our animals in. The west slope communities did not. When a skier is injured at Eldora, EMS from Boulder responds. The patient is brought to Boulder Community ER. Not Vail. Farmers and ranchers from the lowlands of the county still bring their livestock into these mountains for the summer and we bring ours down for the winter. We go down the mountain for work, groceries, entertainment. When we do go over the divide for any of these we can't get there without traveling to other front range counties that have roads that go over the divide. We don't have a paved road that links us to the communities the new redistricting map would join us with. There is only one road from Boulder County across the divide, it's a 4-Wheel drive trail that is closed all winter. Putting the western part of Boulder County into District 3 as proposed on the redistricting map would not serve nor represent me and my mountain neighbors. Again I oppose this redistricting proposal.

Dear Colorado Congressional Redistricting Committee, I am a thirty year resident of Boulder County, having been married in the city of Boulder and raising a family there. For the last almost four years, I have lived in the town of Nederland. I am writing to express my opinion on the proposed Congressional District Map for the the state of Colorado. I think it is important to keep all of Boulder County in the same Congressional District due to our shared interests and public policy concerns. Boulder County provides many services for the Nederland community including safety and law, museums, parks, recreation, transportation and licensing. Many of our Nederland residents commute into the city of Boulder for work, school, shopping or other services and activities. From a public policy point of view, there is a common concern for the environment and quality of life for ourselves and future generations. As I am sure you know, one of the criteria for congressional redistricting in the state of Colorado is "Preservation of Political Subdivisions". You can find this in https://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/redistricting-criteria.aspx. I would suggest moving Gilpin County to the proposed third congressional district and keeping all of Boulder County in the 2nd congressional district. Sincerely, Karen Blakemore

I am concerned that the San Luis Valley, as a rural ranching and farming community with an avid interest in its water resources, should not be placed in a district that includes areas of the state that would be interested in buying privately exported water from the valley. We need our common interest in water resources to not be diluted in this way. Also the old CD3 included most of the national parks in the state. Interest in preserving our national parks and federal and state open lands should not be diluted with interests in further developing such resources.

Dear Members of the Colorado Congressional and Legislative Redistricting Commissions: Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the redistricting commissions Wednesday night. Your work is greatly appreciated. I hope commissioners will look at Better Jobs Coalition’s June 13 and June 16 map submissions for ideas on how to create competitive legislative and congressional districts. A full description of those maps and our methodology was provided. Links to the actual maps can be found here: https://davesredistricting.org/join/3f5d4ec6-1872-48dd-b08b-61d5f72d1bdf (congressional), https://davesredistricting.org/join/c3a80e5f-7621-4f09-ac16-85f122adcf11 (senate), https://davesredistricting.org/join/6dfabd8e-b379-48d1-8c4f-ac25a1fd6de0 (house). I was asked to submit my suggestions for modest changes to the preliminary congressional map to make CDs 3 and 8 more competitive. For CD 3, simply removing Fremont and Teller and adding the San Luis Valley, Gilpin and western Boulder County (and perhaps Estes Park from Larimer County) would make CD 3 more competitive. Teller could be combined with El Paso and Fremont could be placed in CD 4. For CD 8, simply removing Broomfield and adding more of Weld County would help move the district into a more competitive category. Regards, Rick Enstrom

We live in House District 13 in Boulder and I am concerned about the proposed redistricting maps. Currently my district includes the western part of the city of Boulder up into the mountains. The current district provides for good representation about the items that I care about the most, mainly legislation around fires, floods, wildlife and public lands. We have been evacuated for a fire and flood in the past decade and I want my legislator focused on these issues that stem from the surrounding mountains and impact my neighborhood very directly. If the proposed map is approved, the mountain communities near me would potentially be represented by someone from Lafayette and this makes no sense to me as the mountain communities have more in common with west Boulder than the eastern communities. We recreate in the mountains regularly and feel it makes sense that we share representation with all of the close by mountain communities that are off the Peak to Peak Highway. Please support a map that maintains the historical dividing line of Broadway that includes western Boulder with the mountain communities and not with the eastern part of Boulder County.