Public Comments

I live in Castle Rock at the edge of the proposed District 7. Houses just beyond my neighborhood would be broken away from my district in placed in the gigantic rural district that runs from the Kansas border to the San Juan Mountains. Franktown which is nearby Castle Rock and on a commuting road would be broken off from Castle Rock's district in placed in this enormous district. Parker, a community similar to Castle Rock is split in two by this proposed map. As a resident of Douglas County continuity of the district would mean placing the similar communities of Castle Rock, Larkspur, Parker, Franktowm, Highlands Ranch, and Lone Tree together in the same district. Golden is geographically and culturally a world away and fits with Broomfield and Westminster. This is a simple fact that is clear to any resident of the Denver metro.

Communities of interest cannot be separated during the redistricting process. That is why I encourage you to keep the Western Slope in one congressional district. Communities of interest transcend political boundaries and are focused on more complex issues like industry, our relationship with the land and our general way of life. The Western Slope has always, and will always, grow together. While there are many examples of the Western Slope being a community of interest, one that stands out is the type of agriculture that takes place on the Western Slope. Because of the geography and climate the Western Slope is responsible for most of the state's stone fruit production, it's responsible for most of the state's grape production and a fair amount of livestock agriculture as well. The combination of different types of agriculture intertwined so intimately means our communities have learned to work together on issues that may seem different or contradictory on the surface only to reveal a genuine common interest among all community members. To split up and put at odds such a well developed community of interest would be a disservice to what the Western Slope could achieve in the future if it were to be in a single district.

Request that district 42 for the House be extended in the northeast corner to not follow Sand Creek, but instead mirror district 14 on the Senate map and terminate at Mustang Rd. Thank you.

Please keep in mind when you change districts that you keep like minded communities together. I lived in Delta county for years and felt my voice was stolen and silenced because of the districting. Your fairness and self integrity is very important in this matter. Thanks.

SUBJECT: Commission Ignoring Competitiveness Criteria One of the criteria stipulated under Amendment Y is that the commission "maximize the number of competitive districts." However, the commission's proposed congressional map fails to address this requirement at all. Realistically, only the 7th district is competitive. The commission in fact admits as much in their memo on the proposed plan, writing "Due to the preliminary nature of the data staff used to draft the preliminary plan and the fact that the competitiveness of districts has the lowest constitutional priority of the factors that must be considered in drafting the preliminary plan, staff did not prioritize the competitiveness of the districts in the preliminary plan." I do not believe this is acceptable. While competitiveness takes lower constitutional priority over other considerations, that does not mean this criteria should be ignored entirely. The voters of Colorado approved this criteria and it is a violation of the will of the people to disregard it. Furthermore, by so blatantly ignoring this criteria, the commission risks the map being struck down by courts. The reality is that is possible to draw a map that is far more competitive while still maintaining communities of interest and compactness criteria. In revising the map, the commission should aim to make both districts 3 and 8 competitive (since these are the closest to being competitive currently) while maintaining a competitive district 7. Such a change would enhance competitiveness without benefiting either party because the preliminary district 3 is republican-leaning while preliminary district 8 is democratic-leaning. If the commission fails to do so, I am certain the maps will be challenged in the courts for failing to comply with the competitiveness criteria laid out in the amendment Y. Here is a mock up of what a more competitive version of the commission's map could look like: https://davesredistricting.org/join/fe1301ac-74ca-4a91-92df-8748107b033a

I do not live in Colorado, which is obvious because of my zip code. But since I don't live in Colorado I will only comment on the obvious communities of interest problems which are urban and rural areas. The biggest problem is that little arm in district 4 that takes in some of the Denver suburbs. Another issue I have is you could have followed county borders a little better while still keeping communities of interest intact. I do like how you took in some of the Hispanic areas (+ Pueblo) in the southern part of Colorado and brought it in with the 4th. I made a map taking in much of the criticisms I had and kept all that I liked. It is still quite similar to your map. Since I am just a regular person and the census just came out I don't have the perfect population for each district but I did everything I could with Daves Redistricting. I added a geojson file and a png of the map.

When I tell someone from Colorado I'm from Berthoud, a common question is: what is it like up there on the pass in the winter?" Front Range Coloradoans often forget that Berthoud is sandwiched between Longmont and Loveland and that it is growing rapidly. The Redistricting Commission seems to have made the same mistake by placing Berthoud (the town), in a primarily mountain district (58). Berthoud is no longer a sleepy agricultural town on the high prairie, but a bedroom community for those working in Fort Collins, Boulder, or Denver. With close to 30,000 people living in Berthoud and its surroundings, Berthoud is a front-range metro community sharing more in common with its neighbors Longmont and Loveland. Add in that Berthoud is part of the Thompson School District in Loveland, and there's a strong argument based on "community of interest" for taking Berthoud out of the proposed HD58. If it needs to be split between Longmont and Loveland, so be it. Most of us drive north or south depending on where we live.

Why does the House District proposal separate the upper Eagle Valley of Edwards, Avon, Minturn and Vail in two districts? Seems to make no sense to split the upper valley, or roughly half of Eagle County into two districts. I vote to keep all of Eagle County in one district. Look forward to your reply. Thanks, Steve Shanley

Just one note- in the current state house map, the dorms of the University of Denver are split between two districts. That feels like it could make political organization (and even just mailing ballots out) pretty difficult, and I feel like it would better serve the interests of the community to keep the university of Denver students living on campus in a single district, and accommodate more of the surrounding neighborhoods into the other district.

Please don't separate western Boulder county from the second district and the city of Boulder. I and many others who live in the Boulder county mountains work in Boulder and are very connected with Boulder. There is virtually no connection with the western slope here. Nobody I know really ever goes over the divide unless it's for recreation. We can't even get over the divide unless we leave the county entirely and go all the way down to I70 or go through Estes. But everyone goes down the canyon to Boulder all the time (to work, see family and friends, shopping, etc). Also, our current second district representative has been very accessible and held multiple public meetings in the western part of the county to listen about and discuss our local issues. I’m worried that if we get put into the third district we'll be forgotten about and won't ever see our new representative around here, and they won't care as much about our issues as they do western slope issues anyway. The western slope deserves a representative focused on the specific issues that they face, but so do we. Thank you.