Public Comments

It has come to my attention that there is a proposal to put Lakewood into a Congressional District with Douglas County. Lakewood has NOTHING in common with Dougco, and it should be kept in a district with similar areas like Wheat Ridge and Arvada. Best, Sarah Nelson

I’m opposed to a redistricting proposal that would put Lakewood with Douglas County. Lakewood does not share the same values as Douglas County. We are aligned with Wheat Ridge and Arvada. We are in the same school district. West siders are very different than those in Dougco.

Redistricting Commissioners, I am writing to express my concern about comments that have been sent to you regarding separating Denver's parts of the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood from the rest of the Denver neighborhoods as it relates to Congressional Redistricting. As a 4th generation Coloradan, born and raised in Denver, I strongly object to this ridiculous notion! Except for the time I was in graduate school, I have lived in Denver. I have made conscious choices to purchase all of my homes in the City and County of Denver - including purchasing my first GVR home in Lot 1 Filing #1. I have raised my children in Denver's GVR and have been politically active in Council District 11, Senate District 33, House District 7, and CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 1 for more than 40 years. To arbitrarily separate this Denver community from the rest of our beloved City and Congressional District is a mistake. Other's have commented that the GVR in-and-of itself is a community of interest. Nothing could be further from the truth. The areas of GVR that are outside of the City and County of Denver, while carrying the GVR name, do not have the same culture. Those who purchased homes in the Adams County and Aurora parts of Green Valley Ranch did so with full knowledge that their homes are in that city and county! They made an educated decision - just like I did - to align their home purchase with both the city and the county they want to be in - inclusive of the governmental representatives for their homes. Having been through this process many times before, I know the importance of holding "communities of interest" together when making redistricting decisions. The areas in GVR that are within the City and County of Denver are part of Denver's community of interest. The newer areas that are part of another city and another county. Denver and Denverites must be held together, particularly as a "home rule" government. Crossing city and county lines would not only call to question issues of sovereignty, it will lead to voter disenfranchisement and legal challenges to any change that would dilute Denver's voting block. I realize that every redistricting map has been legally challenged, but wouldn't it make some sense not to waste time and money on doing what is wrong, instead of doing what is right? I strongly support keeping the parts of GVR that are in Denver in the same congressional district as the rest of the City. Thank you for your time in service to our democracy and for your consideration of my views.

June 13th, 2021 Dear Colorado Independent Congressional and Legislative Redistricting Commissioners: The Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) is a community-rooted women of color led nonprofit organization that works to enable Latinx individuals and their families to lead safe, healthy, self-determined lives. Specifically our work is centered on reproductive justice, meaning advocating for access to reproductive healthcare and the safe communities and economic policies which are vital to having healthy families. As you go about the process of developing preliminary district maps, we wanted to provide you information about the community COLOR advocates for, why our work is necessary and how this should impact your important process. We work all over the state, but primarily in Adams, Pueblo and Denver Counties, in the San Luis Valley, and throughout the Western Slope providing Two-Gen sexual education and civic engagement advocacy. We are also working to expand our presence in the heavily Latino areas of Greeley and Grand Junction. Through this various work we hear stories from these communities about the need for better working conditions, better pay, more access to healthcare, a need for language equity, difficulties with housing and transportation. Ultimately, all of these concerns come down to a need to ensure proper representation for and from Colorado Latinos through equitable district maps. Over the course of the past 50 years, Latinos and people of color across the country have been fighting in state legislatures, Congress and the ballot to uphold the The Voting Rights Act and ensure our communities access to the vote. Despite these years of dedicated organizing and activism, Latinos are still a minority in elected office and face some of the harshest challenges to vote. Latinos have strong vibrant communities full of businesses, schools and neighborhoods all throughout Colorado currently representing 21 percent of the state population all deserving a voice. Over the next 20 years the Latino population will increase to 33 percent, representing 1.1 million people who deserve a chance to compete for representation from within their own cultural community. Drawing district lines that recognize Latinos as communities of interest for not only our cultural similarities but our political and economic realities, is a necessary component to upholding the ideals and anti-racist values of The Voting Rights Act. In conclusion, we hope that this information will be useful to you as you consider the various communities of interest across the state in the process of developing and approving maps. Thanks for your time and consideration. Dusti Gurule Executive Director, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights

Please keep Boulder County whole when you draw the new maps.

My name is Ken Lane. I have been familiar with the always difficult decennial Colorado congressional redistricting process and the criteria that has been used to create the congressional districts since the 1980s. I am a native Puebloan. Having worked as a congressional staffer for the 3rd congressional district for many years, then in the U.S. Senate, as well as in the Colorado Attorney General's Office in the early-mid 2000s I am intimately familiar with the 3rd congressional district and its various boundary fights over the decades and believe that Pueblo County's community and policy interests are ill served by remaining in a congressional district that is primarily centered on the entire Western Slope. Nor does it make sense for Pueblo County to be added to a congressional district (the 4th CD) primarily dominated by the northern Eastern Plains, centered on population centers north and east of the Denver metropolitan area. There are virtually no current economic, social, or political links between Pueblo and the northeastern part of Colorado. What everyone knows, however, is that there is a historically distinct region of Colorado, long recognized as having common communities of interest--southern Colorado. The ties between geographically central Pueblo County and the counties of the Arkansas River Basin to the east, the counties to the south to the New Mexico border, and to Rio Grand River Basin and the San Luis Valley to the west are well known and obvious. The southwestern counties, anchored by La Plata County, are also historically and geographically distinct from the rest of the Western Slope and, given their links to the San Luis Valley to their east, would complete a southern Colorado congressional district that just makes common sense. I therefore urge the redistricting commission to adopt the proposed Southern Colorado River Basins (SCRB) plan at https://districtr.org/plan/13264 for the reasons outlined by plan proponents previously submitted to the commission.

Please consider the attached letter, as you consider plotting the new Eighth Congressional District. As one of the fastest growing corridors and largest, but aging oil and gas plays in Colorado, we respectfully request that you consider the new congressional district include South Greeley, East Loveland, Longmont, Erie, Thornton, and Commerce City. Thank you, Sara Loflin LOGIC Executive Director

I have lived in Arapahoe County for over thirty years. Over those years we've been in three different CD's of various odd configurations. I ask that the Commission keep Arapahoe County in one congressional district, which it has never been before. Having a cohesive Arapahoe County congressional district would reflect the day to day reality for our citizens. Keeping Arapahoe together will allow for our representative to appropriately advocate for the needs of our county on issues such as public health, education and justice. Thank you.

My name is Mark Gregory Liverman. My mailing address is in Florissant, CO, 80816. Thank you for allowing me to comment on an important local community that I live in that spans Teller, Park and Fremont counties. I live in a community known as “Four Mile”. It is a community that stretches from the Four Mile Cemetery on CR-1 in Teller County west across the county line to the headwaters of the Four Mile Creek (tributary to the Arkansas) in Park County, south along that creek’s drainage into Fremont County to the Four Mile Creek canyon, back east to the western borders of Mueller State Park. This community dates to the arrival of the first western settlers in the latter 1800s and early 1990s. There are established social organizations, a meeting place and this community is acknowledged in the Teller county Planning and Zoning plans as a specific and distinct land use planning region. Residents here get together each Thanksgiving for a Thanksgiving potluck and regularly have dances at the community hall (and we will again after COVID). The Four Mile community spans three counties. We shop, worship and congregate in Lake George (Park Co), Guffey (Park Co), Florissant, Divide, Cripple Creek, Victor and Woodland Park (Teller Co). We travel to Canon City (Fremont County) and Colorado Springs (El Paso County) for items we cannot get locally. I have attached an image of a map showing the rough boundaries of our community. Four Mile is an example of why it would be a good idea to keep Park, Teller and Fremont counties together in defining new SD, HD and CD boundaries. We do not want this community bisected by HD, SD or CD boundaries. Thank you for your consideration

I wanted to express my interest in our CD3 congressional district being split up. This district is so large it is difficult for any representative to properly represent all interests. It would be more equitable to cluster northern and southern communities into separate districts to make it possible to have more representative government at the national level serve our specific interests in the environment, education, tourism, the economy, the demographics of those communities and other needs and challenges. Please consider how to separate this district so that better representation can be provided to its constituents at the federal level. In addition, I wanted to provide input on the current House District 26 in Colorado. This current configuration with Eagle County best matches many of the needs in Routt County including climate action, educational priorities, changing workforce needs, housing and many more. Separating this partnership with Eagle would disrupt many of our current systems in Routt County and clustering our community with Moffat or Rio Blanco would not best serve our current needs. The communities of Moffat Co and Rio Blanco have different needs and challenges as their economies are not as dependent on tourism and their populations are decreasing whereas Routt County has increasing populations needs which our straining our housing market. Please consider the needs of all communities in our NW corner of Colorado when making decisions regarding our Colorado House Districts.