Public Comments

Please do not remove Pueblo County from the rest of the Arkansas river valley. The river is the lifeblood of the area and for both tourism and agriculture. We have little in common with the suburban areas of Denver like Douglas County. The water hungry North Metro areas are often looking to Southern Colorado for additional water. We need representation that is completely loyal to and focused on protecting our water. To put Pueblo County in a district with suburban areas of Denver will risk our water and unnecessarily divide an important community of interest.

I am Valerie LeGore. I am a healthcare professional who was recruited in 2017 to fill a position in a healthcare facility in northwest Colorado. I lived in the city of Steamboat Springs until May 2021 when I moved to Hayden for a more rural and affordable lifestyle. I have great concern regarding the redistricting proposals I have heard for Colorado. I would hate to see the outcomes of gerrymandered districts repeat the debacle experienced (and continuing) in Maryland. While we hear in the news about voter-ID's causing disenfranchisement, the issue can be easily resolved by making official IDs more obtainable. True disenfranchisement occurs when districts are drawn that exclude voters from small towns and rural areas from having their interests represented in state or national legislatures. Routt County is in many ways the heartland of Colorado. The ranching and mining communities have produced multi-generational prosperity, not just in financial terms, but in true communities where the quality of life is via the efforts of the residents. This area is growing rapidly with most of the new residents coming from urban or suburban communities in Colorado or elsewhere. They are moving here because they are attracted to the natural beauty and healthy lifestyles accessible in the mountain and ranching areas. They are willing to invest their time and resources to ensure the viability of these areas to support themselves, their neighbors and what makes this area special. It is only right that they have their interests specifically represented in their state and national legislatures. To that end, I ask that the Redistricting Commission create districts that reflect the uniqueness of the populations that are as varied as the geography of the state. I hope that this independent group keeps its focus on providing a voice to ALL Coloradoans not only those living in the cities and suburbs of the Front Range. I moved here from Western Maryland, from a county made up of small towns, fertile farms, lush mountains and a thriving city that became an attractive destination for visitors from DC and Baltimore. Over the last decade, districts were gerrymandered to guarantee one party rule. That county, as well as all the other non-urban counties became incorporated into districts that included the DC and Baltimore cities and suburbs. No longer were the residents of small towns and farming communities represented. At one time representatives (and candidates) showed up to fairs, fire companies, and grange halls to speak to and listen to their constituents. Sometimes we were on the losing end of national issues, but on issues that affected our communities, we were heard and represented well on issues that allowed our farms to survive, enabled local employers to provide jobs, and our schools to operate independently with local control. No longer is that the case. The once fertile farms now grow solar panels and houses for government officials and contractors, unaffordable for the next local generation, who now need to commute hours to service jobs former home town. I hope Colorado can learn from the designs or mistakes of other areas who looked only at the perpetuation of one-party rule to truly seeking representation of ALL its residents.

Dear Members of the Congressional Redistricting Committee, As a business and a ranch owner in Pueblo and Otero Counties, my hope is that you will preserve the representation of the rural east and west regions of Colorado. Rural Colorado shares the crucial common interests of reliance on river water and our agricultural economy. Other shared interests are transportation, education, veterans issues, rural hospitals, tourism and the park system. These issues are unique to Colorado's east and west regions. The needs of rural Colorado have little in common with the urban corridor and bedroom communities to the north. Central Colorado, the I-25 corridor from Fountain to Fort Collins, should have its own representation. Please keep these issues in mind as you plan.. Respectfully, Trish Leone

Dear Members of the Legislative Redistricting Committee, As a business and a ranch owner in Pueblo and Otero Counties I am providing some input into your redistricting process. My hope is that you will keep southern Colorado intact from east to west. The southern portion of Colorado shares reliance on water from the San Juan, Rio Grande and Arkansas rivers and river basins. A few other shared interests are transportation and agriculture issues unique to our region. The needs of southern Colorado have little in common with the urban corridor and bedroom communities to the north. Please keep these issues in mind as you plan to provide us with representation. Respectfully, Trish Leone

To the Redistricting Commission: As a 35 year resident of Arapahoe County, and as the former chair of the Arapahoe Country Democratic Party, I ask that the commission keep Arapahoe Country in one congressional district. At this time, Arapahoe County is part of three different congressional districts: CD 1, CD 4 and CD 6, respectively. For Arapahoe Country, being in one CD will ensure that issues like voting rights, healthcare, jobs, transportation, veterans issues, immigration, and education are acted upon as one community. Having one congressperson would also ensure that there was one consistent advocate for the very diverse residents of Arapahoe County. Respectfully, Michael Hamrick

RE: Wind Energy/Transmission to be considered in the 4th CD Dear Redistricting Commissioners: Colorado’s Eastern Plains are a national leader when it comes to alternative energy. Most notable among the alternative energy produced is wind energy – thanks to wind farms from the northeast corner to the southeast corner of the state. More wind turbines are being put into use with each year that passes. That’s good for Colorado, but it’s really good for the Eastern Plains counties. All this new energy creation is part of an overall system. Just as too many people think their groceries come from the back of the supermarket, there is too little awareness of what facilities get this energy to certain parts of the Front Range. Yet, the transmission of all this new wind energy is critical to the economic value from wind energy that is created for farmers and ranchers along the Eastern Plains. Just last year, Xcel completed a major transmission project known as the Pawnee-Daniels Park transmission line. As the Denver Post reported, this line runs 125 miles from the Pawnee Substation near Brush to the Daniels Park Substation in Douglas County. “Xcel finishes new power line to carry wind energy from Eastern Plains into metro Denver; New 125-mile line will link Morgan County to Douglas County,” The Denver Post, Feb. 6, 2020. Needless to say, having a substation in Douglas County for all this new energy makes Douglas County will help sustain that area’s business and residential growth. Take away that power and you take away one of the sparkplugs that will keep the core of Douglas County healthy. This isn’t just my view. In the article noted above, an Xcel executive said it too. “The Pawnee-Daniels Park line is a critical pathway for moving power and meeting demands for the growing region supporting job creation and economic growth. This investment in the electric grid will carry more renewable energy from the Eastern Plains and improve overall system reliability.” Of course, wind energy is made possible by a number of federal programs. None of the turbines in existence would have been developed commercially without Department of Energy grants for research and development, feasibility testing, and scaling of projects – from commercial size to residential and farm usage. This research and testing is ongoing through DOE grants. Commercialization has taken root only because the federal government incentivized it through an investment tax credit known as the Production Tax Credit. That incentive isn’t as great as it used to be and is under constant attack. This region will need an actlive spokesman in Congress to keep it intact. Please make your district lines fit with the Eastern Plains’ growth industry – wind – and its necessary partner – transmission facilities that make it an economic whole. Preserve the link between energy producing counties and Douglas County, their important partner in making such energy available and usable for other Front Range communities. Sincerely, Susan Crites Prowers

June 12, 2021 My name is James W. Ross I am 74 years old and ‘a thirty year retiree from the Colorado Department of Corrections. I was born and raised in Canon City, CO. I have two daughters residing in Pueblo County and two grandchildren attending Pueblo County District 70 Schools. I was a Captain for over fifteen years at the time of my retirement. I am currently a resident of Pueblo Colorado. Also, I lived in Pueblo West from 1998 thru 2004. I know a lot of people in Pueblo County from my career with the Department of Corrections, social interaction with members of different organizations which I am a member and from long term association in general with this wonderful community. I write this to request that your committee keep Pueblo County in CD 3, with the Western Slope Counties. There are several very good reasons for leaving things the way they currently are right now. Some of these are: our interests in Agriculture align well and after all, we have had the Colorado State Agricultural Fair in Pueblo for many years! Pueblo County is also mostly a rural county with Pueblo being the largest city and it is small by Denver standards! While it is true we sometimes are considered a ‘front range I 25 city/county’ Denver, Colorado Springs and the areas North of Denver receive all the attention because of their dense population! God knows that our water resource, due to the major river basins which drain the Southern part of Colorado have been vital to our whole area! We have been fortunate to have had some previous elected officials, who fought very hard for this area to maintain our water rights. Our farmers and ranching communities and the smaller communities in general, would have been out of luck but for these dedicated representative and Senators fighting for the districts which Pueblo and Fremont Counties were assigned to over these years. An important employer in Pueblo County has been the Steel Mill, which has had several names and owners over the years. Without this mill, Pueblo would have been in very dire straights but again, we have had past elected officials who fought theirs hearts out to keep level playing field regulations for this manufacturing industry. Many regulations have been piled onto this plant, but there would have been a ton more... if we were lumped in with these larger Denver, Colorado Springs and Northern Colorado communities. Pueblo County has grown and survived mainly due to the family values, the ethnic diversity represented in Pueblo County as well as the work ethic taught by families to children of every ethnicity. This is also very true in the other counties represented in CD 3. We elected Lauren Bobert to the US House of Representatives because of her family values, she is conservative and she believes in representing ‘We the People’. We knew she would represent all of this district and follow the Constitution of our Representative Republic and that is what she is doing! I know my letter will probably get just the standard form letter acknowledging it was received and probably will not even be read. Regardless, I wanted to highlight why I/we in Pueblo County wish to have your committee leave things the hell alone and don’t change anything...please leave our district makeup, the way some past committee decided it should be. Please...if you don’t read the rest of this letter, my point is...IF IT ISN’T BROKEN, DON’T FIX IT.

Thank you, Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission staff and commissioners, for your consideration of public comment on communities of interest. My name is Alex Sánchez and I am a resident of Glenwood Springs and am writing to you today as the Founder and Executive Director of Voces Unidas de las Montañas. We are a community-based organization founded in May of 2020 by local Latina/Latino leaders from Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties. Voces Unidas de las Montañas works to combat voter suppression and ensure that Latinos can exercise their right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discriminatory and racist voting practices that had previously ensured a lack of political power from communities of color. Fifty- six years later and Latino community is still catching up in terms of representation and access to the ballot. We know that one of the best ways to ensure access to the ballot and an engaged voting population is for our communities to see leaders elected who look like and understand them. For example, a farmworker or a restaurant worker on the Western Slope could have a State Representative or Senator who comes from their community, so long as our maps recognize the aligned interests of the Latino population all across Colorado. Latinos come from all over the state, not just the metro areas and we deserve representation that understands the intersections in which we live our lives. I urge you to draw a map that adequately takes the Latino community of the entire state of Colorado into consideration. My hope is that your approved map will ensuring that Latinos in population centers are recognized as cohesive communities of interest who understand our cultural values and norms. Thank you for your time and consideration. Alex Sánchez, Founder and Executive Director Voces Unidas de las Montañas

Dear Commissioners: First of all, thank you for doing this very important job. I hope you will take my comments and suggestions into account when deciding on district lines. My name is Linda Servey. I have lived in Aurora for many years and seen the city grow and develop its own identity. We are a diverse city with many rich traditions. The people in our city respect each other and cooperate on projects for the common good. Leadership within our city and the former congressman in CD6 often favored more affluent neighborhoods and tried to pit one group over another in the past. We have had controversy over criminal justice, housing, and labor rights to name just a few issues. The residents did not cause these problems. Policy on these issues should reflect what the people want and need, not outside money and special interests groups. We can have a district that encourages unity and meeting the needs of residents or we can have division caused by combining different cities like Aurora and Parker. I sincerely hope the commission will recognize that these two cities have different priorities. For example, a much older infrastructure in Aurora will need more federal assistance to repair and improve streets, water and waste water management, public transit, etc. Aurora's poverty rate is over 10%. Parker is a town whose growth is spread out over a large area of previously undeveloped land. Many settled there in recent years preferring to have a majority white (87%), upper middle class existence. Their infrastructure is newer, their poverty rate is closer to 3%. Please do not combine Aurora and Parker in the same district. Although the current CD6 has several pockets of affluent neighborhoods, our infrastructure like light rail with park and ride, the insterstate highways, county services, hospitals and schools serve common areas. Parker is outside those service areas. Again, thank you for taking on this task. I hope you will consider my opinions as the lines are being drawn. Linda Servey

In Douglas County we have a strong unified group of neighbors and friends that have been together for years. We also have grown with many new neighbors, of different opinions, moving into this thriving county. We still have many common goals to move Douglas County forward together with a unified vision. We are a diverse County that has given our citizens a great standard of living by working together for the common good and have provided many unique opportunities for our citizens, and families, to grow and prosper as our County grows stronger together. We believe in working together to allow our community, and families, to benefit from its many opportunities that we have worked hard to give our citizens which has in turn allowed them to grow into one of the most to prosperous communities in the nation. Our track record of being an extraordinarily successful county has brought in a thriving new influx of neighbors that are inspired by our successes and want to share in our vision. They want to share in our wonderful community and contribute to it's future successes. They want to grow their families here, as we have grown ours, and share in our common vision with our proven track record of being business friendly, a growing job market, an improved infrastructure, a mantra of controlled growth in the best interest of our citizens and to provide opportunities for all our citizens. I feel strongly that Douglas County should remain united in its representation and be allowed to grow and thrive as a single county. We are a suburban county with strong ties to our metro neighbors. With our roots as a suburban county, we do not have many common ties with our more agricultural neighbors and I don't think that would be a good combination to join with the more rural areas. They have different concerns, and they would not mix well with suburban areas, who have many different priorities. We love our agricultural neighbors but know they know their needs and concerns better than we do and would be better able to represent those needs as a common block of citizens that are not mixed with suburban citizens, that have different concerns. Please work to keep Douglas County together to make this strong and prosperous community stay together and continue its great work to be a shining light upon the hill! To show the rest of Colorado how to be a great community, work together, provide opportunities for all and thrive together as a diverse suburban community! Thank you!