Public Comments

July 29th, 2021 Dear Commissioners,  Our concerns for the Western Slope will address the "communities of interest" & compactness of districts, with some history of Mesa and Delta counties.  Our first concern regarding the proposed expansion of District 5. West Slope district 5, extending significantly beyond the Continental Divide to the east. With the population of the eastern slope exploding, the water needs of the Western slope are very different from the Eastern slope. This seems NOT to be compact, nor having communities of interest.  Our second concern is that Rifle, Silt, and the area near New Castle do NOT belong with Mesa County.  Since 1970, these communities have been part of the northwestern legislative seat and have NEVER been attached to Mesa County. These communities are attached to the northwest through the Roan Plateau, and extraction industries. These communities of Rifle, Silt, and New Castle have a strong connection to Garfield County and places like Meeker and Craig. According to the US Census Bureau, less than 960 workers live in Garfield County and work in Mesa County, which is about 3% of Garfield’s workforce. Most of the people who live in Garfield County, work in Garfield County. Almost 2,000 Garfield County residents work in Aspen and 1,300 work in Denver. Based on population flows, there is very little connection between the two counties. Our third suggestion is to make the case for having the City of Delta and eastern Delta County be with Mesa County. Canyons create natural barriers and beyond DeBeque there is a strong relationship with northwestern Colorado, whereas Delta and Mesa County share a desert, the Grand Mesa, and are tied economically. According to the US Census, in 2018, over 1,000 people in Delta commuted to Mesa County everyday for employment. This represents 20%+ of Delta’s workforce. Likewise, over 600 people from Mesa County commuted to Delta. Part of Joint School District 50-J, headquartered in Delta, is in Mesa County, and the Delta Hospital has relationships with Community and St Mary’s hospitals in Grand Junction and no relations with the Montrose hospital. The Supervisor for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forest (GMUG) sits in Delta and the Grand Mesa is a shared natural asset of eastern Delta County and Mesa County.  According to the Assessors and Realtors, there is a similarity between the Delta and Mesa County real estate markets, however Montrose tends to follow the volatility of the Telluride market. Since 1970, the City of Delta and eastern Delta County has been a part of one of the legislative seats (House District 54) in Mesa County.   Our fourth suggestion is that Delta and eastern Delta County should be part of the Mesa County Senate district. The preliminary map puts the North Fork (Hotchkiss, Paonia, and Crawford) with Mesa County. This would result in a senator having to leave their district and travel through a different senate district to get to the North Fork. Aside from vineyards and orchards, the North Fork has little in common with Mesa County. The citizens who commute to Mesa County daily live in Delta and Orchard City. Delta and the Surface Creek Valley (Cedaredge and Orchard City) share state highways with Mesa County – US 50 and State Highway 65, which goes over Grand Mesa. Our final suggestion is for part of Glenwood Springs and all of Carbondale, El Jebel, and Basalt being in the Roaring Fork district with Aspen. These communities share an abundance of tourism, outdoor recreation, upscale construction, a similarity in architecture, and similarities in culture and geographic landmarks such as Mount Sopris, the Roaring Fork River, and redstone rock formations. Respectfully, Peter & Cynthia Hosburgh  Orchard Mesa, CO 81503

I'd like to comment on the historic comunities of interest between neighborhoods that share the border between school districts. I am the President of the Board of Education for Cherry Creek School District (CCSD). For many decades, our neighborhoods that border with Douglas County School District (the south edge of Cherry Creek Schools, near County Line Road) have worked together as students choose to open enroll, either into CCSD from DougCo or into DougCo from CCSD. There is the same collaboration along the border of Littleton Public Schools, close to Southglenn Mall west of Colorado Blvd. These communities work together on behalf of the students, but as an elected member of the Board of Ed, I often partner with the DCSD and the LPS to advocate downtown for our students and teachers.

Dear Redistricting Commissioners: Please consider the following in drawing the legislative district in which Paonia, Colorado is placed. The information provided is intended to cause the commission, when drawing maps, to include Paonia (and surrounding five mile radius) in with Gunnison County, which adjoins Paonia to the east. For the ten years that I have lived in Paonia, the political interests that I believe in have not been represented politically. I have expressed the belief many times in writing to the Delta County Commissioners that Paonia is being left out of the political process. As I have said to them: "we do not have a seat at the decision making table". Differences are especially acute over issues related to extractive industries and land use designation. The only politicians that I have met in my ten years living in Paonia that represent me politically have been our Colorado state representatives and senators. Currently, both are Democrats. What shared interests unite our community: first and foremost, protecting our beautiful valley and the environment that makes it so. Our community is passionate about clean water and air. We unite around shared visions that (1) small organic farming is vital to our future; (2) agritourism will be an important contributor to our local economy; (3) Paonia can be a hub for remote professional workers and (4) extractive industries (especially nat gas fracking) are detrimental to our community well being and that climate change is happening now and must be addressed. Public policy concerns: land use planning, especially as it relates to extractive industry and large scale industrial agriculture. Protections to ensure proper planning are important. Geographic area: The North Fork Valley and surrounding mountains are uniquely beautiful, similar to Provence, France. Our North Fork Valley watershed is a vital asset. We share this watershed with Gunnison County, which naturally makes us feel closer to that county's policies versus Delta County. Paonia should have been placed in Gunnison County long ago, due to the shared interest of the NFV watershed.

Dear Colorado Redistricting Commission, Thank you for you due diligence in working through the redistricting of our state. It is a difficult job. I have been a Routt County Resident for 48 years. As we look at the evolution of our County from ranching, mining, growth of the ski industry and tourism we are always reminded of the heritage of those who came before us and why they treasured the land and have fought to preserve it and the way of life it has offered all that come together. Industry in Routt County is centered around the city of Steamboat Springs and the ski area, but this cannot exist without the support of the surrounding towns of Hayden, Craig, Clark, Hans Peak and Oak Creek. These communities existed prior to the development of the ski area to support a specific way of life and economy that still draws people to these towns. They provide affordable housing for our workforce. In addition, they provide staffing for our regional airport which in Hayden which supports not only Routt County but Moffat County as well. I have heard many testimonies pointing to the importance of Routt County drawing its allegiance to Eagle County but I am afraid to say that this is not in the best interest of our county if we force those in our county who choose a rural way of life to place the balance of their interest into Tourism , especially in an area that is driven by one large corporation as Vail Resorts whose conglomerate overshadows that of Steamboat Springs. Residents of Routt County and Moffat County have both been enriched over the years through employment in mining and our power plants. As laws are changed and we are moving away from mining and readdressing how we are creating energy in our poser plants it would be beneficial tow work together with Moffat County on recreating jobs and looking to the future of energy production together. Water Preservation is another main topic of conversation in this part of the state. The Yampa is the main water way flowing through Northwestern Colorado. It is important for all counties who use this waterway to work together developing reservoirs and overseeing the management of this necessary waterway. Once again, I thank the commission for being so thorough in their work. I am in favor of the preliminary revision you have drawn up for Routt County. Best Regards, Mary Weiss

Dear Redistricting Committee: I attended the Routt County hearing and stayed until its conclusion at 11:05pm so I would first like to thank the committee very much for listening attentively to the testimonies on stop #9 out of 32. It is a great way to see much of our beautiful state but by no means is it a small mission to attempt so thank you very much for all you are accomplishing. My name is Angie Horn and although I grew up in Texas, but please don't let my use of "ya'll" fool you, I was born on the western slope and am 6th generation Colorado; yes, my mother's side of the family settled in CO when it was still a territory. I've been back in CO since 1996 and my husband, Glen, and I live in McCoy which is not quite the end of South Routt but close to it. He was born in Steamboat in 1969, is a self-employed carpenter, and has lived in South Routt his whole life. We live on his family's cattle ranch raising about 450 head of black baldies along with growing our own hay. One set of my grandparents lived in McCoy (my grandpa used to write a column in The Pilot though only old-timers would remember it) and the other set of grandparents built the motel in Oak Creek which is still operated today. The rest of my family lived in Junction but mostly on the front range. When my sisters and I visited every single summer, I heard my entire life how they loved going to the mountains (up Hwy 6 back then) and not just for the recreation (again, this was before ski resorts) but mainly they lived for hiking and camping and to getting out of the metroplex. I worked in the water industry in Eagle County for 20 years so I am aware of the its importance and why is it often referred to as "liquid gold", also how we get it, treat it, store it, conserve it, and use it. I had a 38 mile one-way commute and was often asked over the years why I drive so far to which I always had the same answer, "if ya'll saw the view off my deck just once, you would understand that every mile is worth it". I now work for the school district in South Routt and been getting to know all the kids of miners, ranchers and other small business owners who range from Pre-K through 12. At the hearing, I heard a lot of testimonies from Steamboat residents who preferred to connect to other counties due only to housing and skiing similarities but I would encourage those folks to get out and visit north and south Routt more often to explore the vast lands of hayfields and livestock. There is so much more to the western slope and especially NW Colorado than just skiing and expensive houses (which are often 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th homes) but there are large amounts of agriculture and particularly in Routt County. Boulder was also mentioned many times at the hearing, and I would like to concur that the western slope does not share the same lifestyles or values so my vote would be to exchange that portion of the map with Saguache County. Another testimony was if there were huge populations on the western slope, would it lose its appeal to the front-range and world, and the answer is unequivocally, yes! Not everyone moved to the western slope to change it, many (4 and 5+ generations) were born here and made the choice to stay and maintain the livelihood passed down to them as well as its authenticity. Simply put, rural areas very much desire our voices be heard and not overcome by the higher populated areas. I am sincerely grateful for the committee's efforts and their time is truly appreciated! Thank you again, Angie Horn

I believe that our county should not be redistricted as the rural areas would not benefit from this action as they have different needs.

My name is Anthony Asuega-Souza and I have lived in Fort Collins for one year. I am a graduate student at Colorado State University and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America Fort Collins. I believe the legislative maps as currently drawn are good and accurately reflect Fort Collins and Larimer County.

Thank you for your important work on redistricting. As a resident of Paonia in the North Fork valley, I urge you to reconsider the proposed redistricting of Delta county. The North Fork valley is a close neighbor to the West Elk Mountains and the West Elk Wilderness. Many of our water sources are in these mountains. Much of Paonia's agricultural water sources (Minnesota creek, Anthracite creek, the North Fork of the Gunnison, etc) in fact originate or are stored in reservoirs in Gunnison county. Many North Fork farmers and artisans are economically dependent on markets in Crested Butte, Gunnison, and other affluent mountain communities, not Grand Junction and Mesa county. Redistricting that fragments these important watersheds into separate districts make it more difficult for us to address agricultural, environmental, and economic issues. The small towns of Hotchkiss and Paonia have a common high school. Dividing these neighboring towns into separate districts fragments our ability to address educational issues. Redistricting should preserve this important educational and social community as a whole. Thank you for your consideration.

I am against re-districting for one reason, combing us into a larger area that is more populated with more progressive ideals is not something I feel is a positive for Routt county. We are and have been a ranching community that fortunately has a ski resort to attract tourism. We were a community long before we had a resort. To say the real estate values are decreased because of smaller communities ie., Hayden, Craig, Oakcreek, etc., is purely speculation. Have you researched real estate values lately? Leave Routt County in the district it resides. We don’t need Larimer county to help us out.

Please see attached research memo from CCJRC in support of changing policy to reallocate people in state prison to their home communities and not to the location of the prison where they are incarcerated.