Public Comments

Please do not mix rural and urban areas. Urbanites have little regard for agricultural lifestyles, and interests are different. Conflicts concern water, hunting, and private people usage, among others

Public comments for Colorado Redistricting 2020 June 13, 2021 My family and I are wind farmers. We also grow millet, milo, wheat and corn plus raise cows. Right among our fields, though, are 30 wind turbines. We are part of the Rush Creek Wind Project, which has more than 300 wind turbines across in five counties: Lincoln, Arapahoe, Elbert, Kit Carson and Cheyenne and delivers energy to families and homes all the way to Douglas County. I’m proud of the energy generated on my farm. In addition to helping feed people through our crops, we are also helping to power their lives. We are proud to say that we are supporting renewable energy and helping to make sure it is a reliable resource for years to come. Knowing that the energy generated on my farm creates jobs (manufacturing, installing and operating these turbines) is meaningful and keeps our communities connected – and not just through transmission lines. The wind farm development is an economic benefit to not only the community and the state but to the landowners involved in the project. Colorado is fortunate to possess a wealth of energy resources. Traditional forms of energy including oil, natural gas, coal and hydropower have and will continue to play a significant role in meeting our energy needs. At the same time, wind and solar will continue to expand as technology improves and installation costs decline. Together, this mix of resources promises reliable, affordable energy for our state. When you are redrawing the district lines, please keep our wind farm in mind. Wind farmers like me are part of a growing industry, one that includes companies that produce our turbines, people like us who use our land so turbines create energy, and businesses that transmit that energy so it can be used by consumers. We are all important links in this chain and have a common interest in seeing to it that Congress looks at alternative energy as a continuing, affordable priority. To keep our power strong, we need a member of Congress who understands and advocates for all of us who make the energy from renewable sources as well as supporting agriculture in the area. When representing our area it is important to remember that renewable energy is only one part of the puzzle. We are involved in agriculture and renewable energy but residents in our district are interested in rural economic development, traditional forms of energy like gas and oil as well. It takes a balance in all areas for a healthy economy. Our representative must understand this.

In the process of preparing the preliminary plan, non-partisan staff should carefully consider identifying and keeping the San Luis Valley as a community of interest. The SLV is made up of a region of 6 counties (Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache) that all share common interests in its water needs and supplies, transportation, energy transmission, and agriculture. Given the relatively small population size in relation to the number needed for a single district, it would be unreasonable to split the SLV between districts.

Proposed Competitive Congressional District Map Dear Congressional Redistricting Committee Members and staff: Please consider the following proposed congressional map: https://davesredistricting.org/join/3f5d4ec6-1872-48dd-b08b-61d5f72d1bdf We understand that competitiveness is considered only after other constitutional criteria are considered. That said, it is quite possible to respect and prioritize constitutional criteria like communities of interest, and minimizing the splitting of cities and counties, and still draw competitive districts as the constitution requires. We also know that truly competitive seats help keep members of congress connected with the people they serve. This connection is good for Colorado’s business environment and the engagement that members have with the job-creators and workers in their districts. This map keeps one district wholly within Denver, one wholly within El Paso, respects the state’s communities of interest, and contains only 2 known city splits (Erie and Lakewood). This map also creates Colorado’s new eighth congressional district as a minority-influenced district where nearly a third of the population identifying as Hispanic or Latino/a, thereby recognizing another important community of interest in Colorado. The map also draws 3 highly competitive - by almost any measure - congressional districts. In District 4, Trump defeated Clinton just 45.3% to 45.0% in 2016, while in 2018 the Democratic Attorney General candidate defeated the Republican 50.6% to 49.4%. In District 6, both Trump and Clinton received 46.0% of the vote and in the 2018 AG race the Republican defeated the Democrat 50.6% to 49.4%. In District 7, Trump defeated Clinton 48.2% to 43.0%, while in the 2018 AG race the Republican defeated the Democrat 54.0% to 46.0%. Thank you for your service on the commission and for your consideration of our proposal.

The Eastern Plains of Colorado is a community of interest and should not be included with the Western Slope of Colorado, or the urban population centers along the Front Range. The water issues, concerns, and priorities for the Eastern Plains of Colorado are different from the other parts of the State. Agriculture is the main economic interest of the region and the communities are primarily rural.

Please see attached

Please see attached

Thank you Colorado Congressional and Legislative Commission Staff and Commissioners for your consideration of my public comment on communities of interest. My name is Gil Reyes and I am a 58 year resident of Adams County. I hope my comments will contribute to your decisions in the development of the preliminary Congressional and Legislative maps. I was employed in the Adams County Assessors office for 20 years, 12 of those as the Assessor so I am very familiar with Adams County. We have a diverse community, a large Hispanic community that continues to grow west from Aurora to Westminster, north from Commerce City to Thornton and Brighton. A growing Asian American/Pacific Islander community, an increasing Muslim, Sikh and East European population. We have a legacy of farming in the eastern half of the county extending back to the early 1900's. We have a mixture of Agriculture, light industry, Oil & Gas industry, retail, suburbs and urban areas within our county. All projections show that Adams County will continue to grow so I urge you to keep our County whole and make minimum changes to our Congressional and Legislative districts. We have areas that have minimum healthcare facilities, suffering school districts, environmental contamination and a growing immigrant population. We need to have the ability as a County to have access to governmental remedies to find solutions to our issues. As an example we have one school district that has over 50 languages spoken, has a large percentage of subsidized meal assistance and that is only one of eight schools districts. We have the only refinery in Colorado that is contributing to air, soil and water pollution to our community. If it is closed we will need political leverage to secure State and Federal funds to clean the refinery property. The property is adjacent to commerce City which has a large Hispanic population. Our Hispanic and Immigrant population need to be able to make their voices heard. Only by keeping our county whole and our Congressional and Legislative districts within Adams County can we be guaranteed that they will be heard. I urge you to draw maps that adequately takes our communities of interest into consideration. Our County and communities of interest deserve to have the best Congressional and Legislative access and representation. Thank you for your consideration Gil Reyes

Our community is a small tourist town with a world class ski resort and surrounded by quality coal to mine and all forms of recreation that rivers, mountains, BLM-US forest-wilderness areas and parks. Our primary economic driver is tourism, ranching and the besieged coal industries. We need to stay with rural areas, small cities, on west slope and the similar counties of Moffat, Grand, Jackson and Eagle. This state rep district could stay the same. A county like Grand could be added to east if needed or Rio Blanca to west and south. Our congressional district should definitely remain a western slope only district adding only sparsely populated rural contiguous counties as needed. Any gerrymandering to include any of the front range, especially the hugely populated areas of the I-25 corridor have no common interests with us and most often are diametrically opposite on most issues, would be adamantly opposed by myself, friends, family and associates. Any front range communities or counties if needed to be added for population equity must be rural, recreational, ranching and mining resource orientated. Thank you for considering these points as you apportion our districts and keeping our rural, recreational communities together with no large population counties nor cities within them (with the exception of Grand Junction in CD3 which must stay with west slope counties).

I am Carolyn Culp and I live in a rural area 10 miles outside of Steamboat. We consistently have wildlife roaming through our property including bear, deer, mountain lions, elk, fox, among other small mammals. We pass fields with cranes coming home to our property. Routt County is predominately a rural county and the wildlife helps support the tourism industry in the county along with the open lands, parks, forests and lakes. The economy is driven by ranchers, energy production, tourism, the ski area which leases forest service land and many "ma and pa" businesses. It is important that we align our county with the others that have similar economies and concerns for the future of preservation of our land including water rights. Ma and Pa businesses are far different with different issues and concerns from the larger corporate businesses that support the front range economies. Our current districting is aligned with our surrounding rural counties and I believe that Routt County should stay in the same district. I would respectfully request that you allow the county to remain united in it's rural roots and not move us into a district where our goals and values would compromise our rural way of life. Sincerely, Carolyn Culp