Public Comments

Thank you for your efforts on the important issue of redistricting. I am a resident of the Wind Crest retirement community in Highlands Ranch, and I respectfully request that the Wind Crest community be included within only one legislative district. In reviewing the most recent preliminary legislative district map, it appears that the Wind Crest campus would be split between District 22 and District 33. Wind Crest is a community of seniors who live, dine and participate in activities throughout our one campus. We also are very active voters. Having our community located in two separate districts would create confusion among a group of people who are and want to continue to be engaged in political activities. Thank you for your consideration of my request.

THE CURRENT PROPOSED REDISTRICTING MAP FOR COLORADO DISTRICT 3 FAVORS THE REPUBLICAN INCUMBENT BY 10 POINTS? THAT'S NOT AMENABLE TO ME. I MUST INSIST THAT WE ENCOMPASS THE I-70 CORRIDOR FROM WEST (MESA COUNTY) ALL THE WAY TO GILPIN - DOING SO WILL MAINTAIN COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST, WHICH IS A STATUTE IN OUR STATE'S CONSTITUTION AND INCLUDE CONTINUITY WITH ALL MOUNTAIN RESORT AREAS, NATIONAL PARKS, ADDRESS ISSUES OF DROUGHT WITH A COMBINATION OF PUBLIC LANDS AND WATER SHEDS. ADDITIONALLY, THE PROPOSED MAP MUST DROP PARK, TELLER AND FREEMONT COUNTIES WHICH ARE COMMUTER AREAS FOR COLORADO SPRINGS AND HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON WITH COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST - ONE LAST POINT - WE NEED TO ADD BACK THE SAN LUIS VALLEY TO MAINTAIN CONTINUITY WITH OUR HISPANIC POPULATION TO ENSURE THEIR VOICE IS HEARD! I HAVE LIVED IN MESA COUNTY FOR OVER 40 YEARS AND AM TIRED OF MY VOTE NOT MATTERING.

Climate Change is the most serious crisis humanity has faced and we have a pandemic rolled into that.My comments about redistricting will include the need to have a voice for the many organizations working directly on the issues related to preserving natural resources like water, snow and forests that not only are what we depend on for our biological life, but also for the economic life of this region. People with environmental knowledge and awareness must have a voice at the ballot box and redistricting can serve to unite our voices for the good of all. If the United States had followed the recommendations of John Wesley Powell that counties in the west should be created based on water sheds we would have much saner political boundaries than currently exist. Our watershed on the short Roaring Fork River's fun to the Colorado River is made up of 3 counties covering only 45 miles in length. We need to keep our watersheds together as voting districts. I grew up in Colorado on both slopes. I got my Phd in Environmental Design and Planning from the University of Colorado and my MA in Education at the University of British Columbia. My work has been in community non profits focused on environmental education, community health, renewable energy and organic agriculture. I have collaborated with the region's 3 school districts that have a diversity of student population and quite a lot of poverty (Roaring Fork School District, Garfield 2 and Garfield 16) to bring food gardens and environmental education to students in all 3 districts.(Our non profit did not focus on the Aspen school district because the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies provides excellent resources to those youth.) I brought together the environmental non profits from the Roaring Fork River Valley to provide a broad range of environmental activities and education to the schools in the Colorado River Corridor where there were NO environmental organizations interacting with students except for Colorado State Parks in Rifle. We won GOCO funding in a competitive grant process. What I learned from working across county lines over many years including helping to start Live Well Garfield County is that we who understand the scientific reality and social challenges of climate change have our votes divided in the current districts and in those you propose to date. The oil and gas industry has run a boom and bust economy in the Colorado River Valley for decades and does not want anyone questioning their right to drill and frack. The energy extraction industry puts a lot of money into electing people who will represent THEIR interests but not the interests of the environment that provides life and the economic driver for everyone else in the region: ski resorts, summer resorts, hunters, fishermen, agriculture, both farms and ranches. Nor do they look to the well being of the children as they request the right to drill near schools. Another issue that parallels our river corridors is adequate representation of the Hispanic community that form a lot of the work force for the resort communities and construction industry in mountain towns. I was impressed by the information presented in the Carbondale redistricting meeting by Alex Sanchez and another Hispanic gentleman from Rifle. Uniting the voices of the Hispanic community would unite the voices of the Colorado River Valley, the Roaring Fork Valley and possibly the San Luis Valley where the environmental issues are very similar. I can't say I think Pueblo makes any sense with except for its Hispanic population. Some of your commission members could not reach the meeting in Carbondale due to the closure of Glenwood Canyon. Last year's Grizzly Creek Fire has created a disaster area of mud slides that come with almost every rain. We desperately need the rain to prevent more fires but when we get it the burnt cliff sides slide. What a sad and frightening mess that exemplifies the challenges of climate change. Developing local agriculture here comes from the realization that we absolutely must grow more food locally due to the storms that cut us off from trucked in food supplies whether it's a summer or winter storm closing I-70. Carbondale's Roaring Fork High's graduating class this year was 60% Hispanic, a class of 101 students, 95% going to college, many to Colorado Mtn College. We have 101 new voters, 60% of them Hispanic. Those numbers will repeat annually. We need a district that serves the interest of the environment that supports us all and the people who work in it. If the environment is destroyed by fires, flood and indifference there will be no economy here. We have to look to the long term, and how we vote will have a big impact on the long term. Please don't divide the environmental voices along the river corridors from high mountains to valleys. We want to help our rivers, forests and mountains and all the people, not a few investors in oil and gas..

I find it very difficult to see the actual map, as proposed, in what has been published, but it strikes me that we in Summit County have little in common with the western ranch lands and a lot in common with Boulder and the Front Range in terms or transportation needs and infrastructure, environmental concerns, housing issues, and employment issues. I would like my elected representative to be familiar with the needs of a community that, while considered “rural,” is more culturally connected to the urban centers of our state.

GILPIN COUNTY, COLOARDO: TESTIMONY FOR COLORADO LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING COMMISSION Greetings! Gilpin County is an Eastern Slope County only 30 minutes from the Denver Metro area. We have no shared borders with the Western Slope counties (Summit, Eagle, Pitkin, Lake, Gunnison, Chaffee) that the preliminary map associates us with for our House and Senate Districts which are fundamentally different in the areas of employment, health care, education and other aspects of our daily lives. We wish to be included with the Front Range counties of Jefferson, Boulder and Clear Creek. We have a great deal of common issues and interests with these counties with which we share borders, traffic, commuters, recreationalists, etc., including the following: JEFFERSON COUNTY: Gilpin County contracts with Jefferson County Public Health Department, receives services from Jefferson Center for Mental Health, hospitals and health care clinics, shared tourism, forest health including aligning our fire restrictions with all of these counties, shopping, employment opportunities, water issues, eductional opportunitites, and the same Judicial District #1 with courthouse shairng in Gilpin County. BOULDER COUNTY: Boulder Valley School District is in north Gilpin County, shopping, employment opportunities, health care, public lands uses, mutual aid agreements re: fire, ambulance and law enforcement. NOCO Places 2050 for managing public lands. The Eldora Mountain Ski Resort is building a run that will drop into Gilpin County's north side and Boulder County is developing a hiking trail that will be located in Gilpin County on private land. CLEAR CREEK COUNTY: Clear Creek County is partnering with Centura Health to open a new health care clinic in Idaho Springs that Gilpin County residents will be able to use since we have no health care clinic in Gilpin. Mututal aid agreements re: fire, ambulance and law enforcement, NOCO Places 2050 for managing public lands, DRCOG regional planning for transportation, growth and aging issues; shared animal shelter (Charlie's Place), shared shooting range and shared catchment area for Jeferson Center for Mental Health services. DOLA's Limited Gaming Impact Fund representative is a Clear Creek County Commissioner who is Gilpin County's representative on this committee. Thank you very much for considering these reasons that Gilpin County belongs with Clear Creek, Jefferson and Boulder counties for our legislative district. We have strong ties to these communities and enjoy sharing resources and future planning with them.

Our rural areas need representation from the Senate and House.  We DO NOT WANT to be lumped in with a large urban area as our voices will not be heard. We need ag representation.  People that know our needs. Eastern Colorado needs to be kept together as a community.  Our interest in agriculture, rural and watersheds.   We need our voice!

Thank you for your work on the Legislative Redistricting Commission drawing up the state legislative districts. These plans propose that Wind Crest Retirement Community to be split into two different precincts. The High Line Canal should not be used as a dividing line. I oppose this preliminary proposal as Wind Crest is a homogeneous community and should not be split. Thank you for considering this objection.

Hello. I testified today in Carbondale. A commissioner had asked Pitkin Co commissioner Greg Poschman about urban and rural communities being together. I meant to mention a great book called Harvest the Vote by Jane Kleeb which beautifully addresses this very issue. She is head of the Nebraska Democratic state party. She’s very approachable should you want to reach out to her. Thanks again for all of your hard work on this.

As a citizen of Colorado and Delta County, I welcome the redistricting efforts and I find that the proposed maps at this point in time do not comply with the constitutional criteria. My comments are focused on Delta County and the Commission’s proposed maps. I have lived in the North Fork Valley for 17 years and have worked with many nonprofit organizations which struggle to serve their own communities of interest. The North Fork Valley is a distinct agricultural and creative community connected by highway 92 and 133 and bordering the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Organizations such as the Valley Organic Growers Association, North Fork Creative Coalition, West Elk AVA, West Elk Community Fund, Citizens for a Healthy Community, Western Slope Conservation Center, North Fork Senior Connections, Friends of the Paradise Theatre and Blue Sage Center for the Arts are uniquely positioned to serve and protect the interests of our Valley. Section 44.1 mandates that Districts must “Preserve whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions, such as counties, cities, and towns” and “Be as compact as is reasonably possible.” The proposed map does neither for the State Senate and House districts. By carving out the towns of Paonia and Cedaredge and placing them in Mesa County, the proposed map not only divides the County, it defies the topography of the region (i.e., areas separated by the Grand Mesa) and it splits the population of the North Fork Valley. I suggest Delta/Montrose/Gunnison Districts, connected by US 50 and US 92 and the Gunnison River Basin, including Delta, Montrose and Gunnison Counties in one district. This would be much more cohesive as these counties share the transportation route of US 50 and 92 and the Gunnison and Uncompahgre watersheds, as well as National Forest and BLM lands in contiguous management units. I suggest that the Commission find a way to leave Delta County whole with one House and one Senate District. The proposed arrangement is confusing to voters and creates more work for county elections officials who must prepare 4 different ballots as the split for the House Districts is different than the split for the Senate districts.

In Section 44.1 of the revised Colorado Constitution it ensures that the redistricting commission should set district lines that offer “fair and effective representation of constituents using politically neutral criteria” and “provide voters with a meaningful choice among candidates, promote a healthy democracy, help ensure that constituents receive fair and effective representation, and contribute to the political well-being of key communities of interest and political subdivisions.” Districts must: Have equal population, justifying each variance, no matter how small, as required by the U.S. Constitution; Be composed of contiguous geographic areas; Comply with the federal "Voting Rights Act of 1965," as amended; Preserve whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions, such as counties, cities, and towns; Be as compact as is reasonably possible; and Maximize the number of politically competitive districts.   Districts cannot be drawn for the purpose of: Protecting incumbents or declared candidates of the U.S. House of Representatives or any political party; or Denying or abridging the right of any citizen to vote on account of that person's race or membership in a language minority group, including diluting the impact of that racial or language minority group's electoral influence. As a citizen of Colorado and Delta County, I welcome the redistricting efforts and I find that the proposed maps at this point in time do not comply with the constitutional criteria. The preliminary map fails to fulfill the requirements of the constitutional directive. First, CD3 would move from a lean Republican (+6 point advantage) to a strong Republican (+11 point advantage), which disregards the requirement that districts be as competitive as possible. Including three counties on the edge of conservative Colorado Springs (Teller, Fremont, and Park), all commuter communities for that large municipality. These counties are not similar in any way to those currently in CD3. In addition, The proposed map removes the San Luis Valley from CD3 and places the San Luis Valley with Weld county and other counties in the South Platte Basin and the Colorado Springs area who are currently destinations for proposed major trans basin diversions from the San Luis Valley. Regarding public lands and water the SLV has much more in common with the mountain counties of the current CD3 than with those CD4 counties in the new map. The Western Slope mountain counties are headwaters for major rivers that are water sources for our whole state and for states to the West and East of us. I suggest that we could make our district the Colorado powerhouse of public lands, tourism and outdoor recreation. CD3 could become one of the strongest public lands districts in the American West. The final map could legitimately combine all of our national parks, most monuments, much of our public lands and forests, most major ski areas and ski towns, and many, many related, tourism-dependent areas in one district. To solve the non-compliance issues the preliminary map for CD3, I propose: 1. Remove Park, Teller and Fremont counties and 2. Add Gilpin County and reinstate the 6 SLV counties of Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache Inclusion of the recommended areas would also help protect Western Slope water rights as CD3 is the source for many of the major water arteries and headwaters for the Colorado, Rio Grande, and Arkansas Rivers. We could then band together to seek better federal assistance with some of our biggest problems such as wildfires and drought - both effects of climate change – which disproportionately affect our Western Slope communities. We could also better protect smaller, multi-generational family farms and ranches by bringing them into one district, apart from the big, corporate agricultural operations of the eastern plains.