Public Comments

I’m a resident of JAMESTOWN CO. Please continue to keep our voters linked to the City and County of Boulder. This is more in sync with lives and interests than a community ;or ski area) further to the west. Thank you.

Hi Redistricting Committee, thank you so much for taking on this job and listening to all the comments from Colorado voters. Here are a few points that I'd like to make while you are considering the redistricting map and why redistricting should lean blue once finalized. 1. Colorado continues to shift blue. We elected 2 Democrat senators (taking an R seat) & half the current house seats are democrats, also Biden beat trump by 13% and 2020. 2. In 2020 the Democrat vote increased in 40 of the states 64 counties. 3. Republican vote total shrank in heavy conservative county Colorado Springs El Paso County. There is a blue shift that is going across the state and that's just what I'm trying to point out here. 4. Weld, Douglas, Broomfield, Denver, Custer counties seeing some of the largest population growth in Colorado - 3 of the 5 of these counties are Democrat strongholds. Redistricting at this time should represent what Colorado looks like and Colorado looks like a blue state. Colorado overwhelmingly rejected trump and and with all of the current Republican commentary supporting trump politics that narrative is not something that Colorado accepts at this time. Thank for listening. Kind regards Lydia (submitted by email 7/12/2021)

There is no way that this map is going to work for the folks of the Jamestown/boulder area. Lauren Bobert is a national disgrace and when the majority of boulder county are democrats, and liberal I don't see how a conservative close minded bigot like Lauren could represent such a progressive area. It would be a slap in the face, and not met without resistance of those in the area.

My name is Bruce Thron-Weber. I have lived with my wife in Colorado for over 40 and in Arvada for 11 years. My children and their families live in the Denver and Golden. I thank you members of the Colorado Redistricting Commission for your work on this challenging and extremely important project. Our interests are policing and criminal justice systems that are fair and do not put residents at unnecessary risk in order create safety, end homelessness and poverty, access to books through public libraries, control of disease, excellent public transportation and smooth flowing roads and highways, laws that are supportive of small farms, lots of open space for recreation and wildlife, and schools which show the accomplishments of all races and promote the success of all children. For the state senate legislative district, Arvada should be kept whole, and the Westminster portion of Jefferson County should not be cut off from the Arvada and the rest of the district. Many people at the hearing on July 13 described the numerous interests our areas have in common. We work together on transportation funding, are within the same school district, library district, public health department and district attorney's office. We need to be able to go to the same state senator when we need action on issues related to these. The 19th State Senate District as it is currently formed has flipped back and forth between republican and democrat numerous times. Please use the current 19th State Senate District as fully as possible as the basis for forming the new state senate district. It will then be, contiguous, compact and competitive. Thank you for your consideration.

I think otero and crowley counties should be together and otero be kept whole. Western slope should remain whole. Eastern colorado is more ag and energy.

Hello, and thank you to the Commission for all your work. I wanted to share why I think it is important to keep Wheat Ridge and Arvada in the same Congressional District. I am the District IV Wheat Ridge Citycouncilperson and also live right on the border of Wheat Ridge and Arvada. Arvada and Wheat Ridge share many businesses, and although the city lines are drawn, the communities share many resources. Recently, there was a fire on Clear Creek, along my property line is. This fire was started by a person who was illegally camping on my neighbor's property. Wheat Ridge Police showed up to address the trespassing. The West Metro Fire Truck arrived to deal with the portion of the property in their fire district while Arvada Fire and paramedics arrived to address the Fire because it was along the creek bed in their jurisdiction. We also had Jefferson Open Space follow up after the fire. These entities were quick and efficient in responding and understood the intricacies of who was responsible for which portion. This coordination comes from years of coordinating and implementing Federal, Local, and State resources and guidance by adding yet another jurisdiction to who is responsible for what we are doing away with years of resilient relationships. I ask you to please consider keeping Wheat Ridge and Arvada in the same Congressional District because our municipalities work well together, and we should not mess with a good thing. Wheat Ridge and Arvada are both in Jefferson County, and throughout the pandemic, both communities followed Jefferson County's guidance on its public health guidance. This consistency allowed for a better response to the pandemic, and in the preliminary maps, it looks as though the plan is to remove Arvada and include Douglas County. I suggest keeping like-minded Jefferson County together and pulling from northwestern parts of Denver and Gilpin Counties and the Jefferson County portion of Westminster if more population is needed. Once again, thank you for your service and consideration; your public service is very appreciated.

I'm concerned about the new boundaries for Congressional District 3, in particular the places where the district juts into western Boulder County. The boundaries in this area seem arbitrary and don't make much sense. As far as the mountains go, this is a fairly highly populated area. Most of the people who live up here work and socialize in Boulder. Yet,the neighborhood on my side of Overland Rd would be in District 3 while the neighborhood on the other side of Overland Rd would be in District 2. We are a tight-knit community up here, sharing many values and concerns, and it doesn't make sense to split us up like that. I think it would make more sense to keep all of Boulder County in a single Congressional District.

Having reviewed the preliminary maps of CD2 and CD3, the proposed changes to western Boulder County are bizarre and incongruous with the geography and demographics. The western border of Boulder County is the continental divide with no access to the rest of CD3. To connect towns like Jamestown to the CD3 is to connect us to communities that we have no shared economic or social interests. Our interests are more aligned with the Front Range cities where most of our population works, that we have direct road access to, and, where we shop and support businesses. Western Boulder County is, by every measure, part of the Front Range, and not the Western Slope. Moving census blocks from parts of Boulder County across the divide into CD3 seems to have no justification in reality, would result in a failure to provide representation for the affected constituents, and, appears to violate several of the criteria for drawing districts maps, as outlined on redistricing.colorado.gov, including: Be composed of contiguous geographic areas; Preserve whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions, such as counties, cities, and towns; Arbitrarily dividing a district like this, especially across a severe geographic feature like the continental divide, could further be construed as at attempt to challenge several of the other criteria, including partisan favoritism, protecting incumbents or denying right to vote. In short, it doesn't take a geography major to look at this and see that it is problematic at best. Western Boulder County should remain with the rest of Boulder County, unquestionably.

1. Ward/Jamestown interests are tied to Boulder County 2. Ward/Jamestown social services (or wishes to improve) are tied to Boulder County 3. A person cannot get west from the Ward/Jamestown area without hiking over the Divide!! A person cannot drive without going outside the district. Places within an area need to have easy access to their representative. 4.. It seems it would make more sense to carve lane in the south out of District 4

Testimony for the Redistricting Commission My name is Steven Taylor Jarnagin. I am a resident of the Alta Vista neighborhood in the City of Arvada. I would like to thank the Commission for allowing me to give testimony. I have been looking at the proposed maps of the State of Colorado Assembly House and Senate Districts and the US Congressional Districts and I must say, I am quite disturbed at what I see. My impression is that when the voters of the State of Colorado voted for this method of redistricting; their first and primary goal was to prevent gerrymandering. And yet, when I look at these maps as they relate to the City of Arvada and Jefferson County, they appear to have been gerrymandered. Specifically, under the Colorado Constitution as amended; districts are to be: 1) Equal Population 2) Contiguous 3) Comply with the federal "Voting Rights Act of 1965," as amended 4) Maintain whole communities of interest and whole political subdivisions 5) Be as compact as possible 6) Maximize competitive districts Under these rules, the City of Arvada should be maintained as a whole political unit. Jefferson County should be maintained as a whole political unit. Arvada is mainly in Jefferson County, with a small eastern sliver in Adams County, with a 2020 estimated population around 123,000. We are a community of interest and should be treated as such and maintained as a contiguous unit, nested within JeffCo, as a whole political subdivision. Breaking us into pieces is an act of gerrymandering under the rules you are supposed to be operating under. With respect to the House Districts, the majority of Arvada should be in one House District and the remainder in a second district; with both being entirely in JeffCo (with a small sliver in Adams). All of Arvada should be within one Senate District along with the Jefferson County portion of Westminster. All of Jefferson County should be contained within one Congressional District. Splitting Arvada and JeffCo into two congressional districts and splitting Douglas County and merging the two appears to be gerrymandering to me. The City of Castle Pines (in Douglas County) has more in common with Parker (in Douglas County) than either has with Wheat Ridge (in Jefferson County). The City of Arvada (in Jefferson County) has more in common with Wheat Ridge (in Jefferson County) than either do with Castle Pines (in Douglas County). Please don't politically break up our communities of interest. As much as possible, we all should be represented by a single representative that lives in our community of interest. Arvada and northern Jefferson County (north of I-70) have a series of preexisting Special Districts where they are already working together as whole political subdivisions. Examples include the Apex Park and Recreation District, the Arvada Fire Protection District, the Jefferson County Health Department, the Rocky Flats Stewardship Council, and most importantly, the Jefferson County R-1 School District. We are legislatively joined at the hip in a number of ways and should not be splintered into pieces by these maps. Please keep the City of Arvada as a whole political subdivision and a community of interest. Please keep Jefferson County as a whole political subdivision and a community of interest. Arvada is already competitive and compact. Please don't gerrymander us out of fair representation. Thank you. Steven Taylor Jarnagin Alta Vista Neighborhood City of Arvada