Public Comments

Dear Congressional Commission: I am a life time resident of Commerce City, Colorado in Adams County. Our community has many challenges with education, pollution, and water. We have a wildlife refuge which came about due to toxic waste in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Since we have a diverse population and diverse challenges it is my hope that redistricting will be as fair and equitable as can be expected during these trying times. Theresa Ortega Commerce City, Colorado 80022 (submitted by email 6/11/2021)

Both Colorado Redistricting Commissions, Using skin color as a factor in redistricting is wrong, probably illegal snd likely unconstitutional. Packing or cracking based on color is racist. Doni do it. Richard Berman Boulder, Colorado 80304-1030 (submitted by email 6/10/2021)

Dear Members of the Legislative Commission and Staff, This is hopefully the URL for the State Senate Rural Competitive map I discussed in my previous comment. I also sent the file via email. Hope this works! Kathleen https://davesredistricting.org/join/6007cdf9-fb4a-4591-b507-dc669f4133ea

Both Colorado Redistricting Commissions, What can be more important than empowering more and more people to participate in the democratic process than having confidence that their individual voting effort matters ? Why have tens of thousands in Colorado and elsewhere abandoned their franchise and dropped out the electoral process entirely ? Because banding together with the communities of interest as defined in Colorado rules and legalese seems impossible by continued use of the historic county and city lines which are often used to divide people within a geographic area and thereby empower monied interests to dominate the political process that turns many less wealthy folks away. It is time for change in Colorado. Henry Kroll Boulder, Colorado 80304 (submitted by email 6/10/2021)

Chaffee County has >80% public lands, low population density, and significant considerations for the increasing development and environmental pressures we're facing. Right now, we are grouped in CD5 with El Paso County, a densely urban community and county >33x our size. We have much more in common with proximate mountain counties including Lake, Pitkin, Eagle, and Gunnison that share our core economic drivers like tourism, outdoor recreation, and production ag and also share our priority needs like affordable housing, greater healthcare and childcare options and equity of access, land conservation and stewardship-driven policy addressing forest and watershed issues, and infrastructure improvements like broadband and roads. CD3 & HD61 seem better aligned for us with communities of shared interests.

My opinion is that Routt County should be taken out of the 3rd district and maybe grouped with other mountain towns. Thanks, Denise and Russ Fasolino Clark, CO 80428 (submitted by email 6/10/2021)

dear Congressional Redistrcting Commission My name is Terri Genson, and I live in Lakewood. I’m writing with, during the comment session, with concern that everyone, including BIPOC have equal representation in redistributing. Certainly there are more than 6 areas of interest when considering redistributing, in our state! All BIPOC individuals need to be represented! Cherry picking areas is not equal representation, and not acceptable. Thank you for taking multiple looks, for other areas. Gerrymandering is unacceptable! Terri Genson Lakewood , Colorado 80228 (submitted by email 6/10/2021)

Both Colorado Redistricting Commissions, My name is Wendy Howell, and I am a resident of northeast Park Hill, in Denver. I love my neighborhood and my city, but I have seen both undergo significant change in the last ten years. My neighborhood was once a prediomonantly Black and working-class community. In many ways, it still is- but more and more people are moving out and into surrounding communities that are more affordable, because housing costs have skyrocketed here. In my family's case alone, the rent for our house has gone from $1500 to $2200 in just five years, and I am seeing the houses around me sell for $350,000 or more when ten years ago they would have sold for half that amount. Many of the people who are leaving my community are going to Commerce City or Aurora in search of more affordable housing. And, I understand from my friends on the North & West Sides of Denver that they are experiencing a similar dynamic- many people there are moving across the border into Lakewood or Thornton/ Westminster for similar reasons of affordability. What I also see, though, is that even those who move out maintain strong ties to and identity with the neighborhoods they have had to leave. This is why I think you should consider efforts to connect the communities in Denver with those who have left them - particularly in terms of Black and Latinx populations that are shifting, and undoubtedly will continue to for the next ten years as well. Doing so would preserve both identity with the neighborhood and connection to it. Additionally, it may be important to maintaining the power of communities of color rather than dividing them up as they shift across county lines. Thank you for your consideration of these comments and please feel free to reach out with any questions. Wendy Howell Denver, Colorado 80207 (submitted by email 6/10/2021)

Dear Members of the Legislative Redistricting Commission and Staff, I am providing you with a draft map of State Senate Districts located outside of the Denver Metro area for your consideration. I used Dave’s Redistricting to build the map and will publish it to make it accessible. If you have any trouble opening this or using it, please let me know and I will try again to submit it. Please consider my comments below as an explanation of the assumptions I used to develop this scenario. As you may know, I was one of the authors of Amendments Y and Z. I successfully advocated for equitable unaffiliated voter representation on the independent commissions and am a strong supporter of increasing the number of competitive legislative and congressional districts. I am pleased that the commission(s) are seeking to take competitiveness into account as they pursue their charge. As a former unaffiliated member of the General Assembly, I am keenly aware of how few opportunities there are for candidates that are not members of any party to run for the legislature. Non-competitive or “safe” seats are not winnable by unaffiliated candidates (or members of the other party) , and given that Colorado’s legislative districts are predominately drawn to favor one or the other party – it should come as no surprise that unaffiliated candidates have not been successful. With 45% of the registered voters in the unaffiliated camp, it is stunning that there has never been an unaffiliated candidate elected to the General Assembly. This needs to change. The attached map of state senate districts was developed to increase the number of “competitive” seats in the rural or non-Denver metro area after prioritizing the other factors, i.e. population, contiguity, the VRA, and sensible geographical splits. I frankly did not tackle the metro seats, but I am convinced that there are opportunities there to increase competitiveness as well. I know that we do not have an agreed-upon definition of competitiveness yet – so I used a common sense approach. I looked at the 2018 Attorney General’s race and tried to keep within a five point margin of performance difference between the two parties. My goal was to draw districts that could switch parties or be won by an unaffiliated candidate. The attached map does the following: SD5 – becomes competitive, 50.1% Dem – 49.9% Rep. This district previously favored the Democratic Party, 52.2% Dem – 43.9% Rep. SD15 – becomes competitive, 50.9% Dem - 49.1% Rep. This district previously favored the Republican candidates 43.6% Dem-52.7% Rep. SD3 – becomes competitive, 51.7% Dem- 48.3% Rep. This district previously favored the Democrats, 54.3% Dem - 42.2% Rep. SD12 – becomes competitive, 52.2% - 47.8%. This district previously favored the Republicans, 37.3% Dem- 58.6% Rep. SD11 – becomes competitive, 47.1% Dem - 52.9% Rep. This district previously favored the Democrats, 55.8% Dem-39.3% Rep. (SD8 – becomes less competitive than it is now, and would favor the Democratic Party 53% - 47% Rep). It is my sincere hope that the staff and the Commission will take ideas like this into account as you develop the new district boundaries. It is clearly possible to draw more competitive districts in Colorado than what we currently have. Thank you so much for your important work and your consideration! Respectfully, Kathleen Curry Kathleen Curry 54542 US Highway 50 Gunnison, CO 81230 Cell 970-209-5537 kathleencurry@montrose.net

We are the far Northeast Denver Communities and we serve each other as one community that share all of our interests and resources. Negative changes seem to follow us over the years, but not this time. You cannot separate us, as has been done repeatedly to our detriment out here for generations. So, do not shave off the arm of CD 1 that leads to the airport and create another district. I understand that Denver has 10,000 people too many to make up a single congressional district, so our commissioners is looking to decide to cut off a small piece of Denver or to split it into bigger chunks. Do not look to the far Northeast Denver for this solution. Look somewhere else, like South Denver and those communities. Thank you, in advance... Edweena