Public Comments

Agriculturally aligned with the western slope.

Commissioners, I serve on Edgewater City Council in Jefferson County. Edgewater has a population of 5,400 people and is .7 square miles surrounded by Denver, Wheat Ridge, and Lakewood. In terms of government relationships and partnerships, our city is much more connected to Jefferson County than Denver (suburbs operate differently than Denver). Please consider this when updating Congressional Districts. Additionally, we have many partnerships with the smaller cities in close proximity to us (Wheat Ridge, Golden, Mountain View, & Lakeside). The breakout of HD24 does a good job of keeping us connected. The current SD22 map excludes Excludes Edgewater from these communities and instead extends south down to Ken Caryl. Please consider this when updating the State House and Senate districts. Thanks, John Beltrone

To the commission members: As a resident of the Western Slope, I support Congressional redistricting that keeps the Western Slope whole as a community of interest regarding public lands, watersheds, agriculture , and rural values and needs. These matters require a single-minded approach for our area in order to be effective in decision- making that truly serves the people. I think the map submitted by Club 20, Action 22 and Pro 15 makes the most sense statewide. This map seems to fit the best with population as well as all the other criteria. It just makes sense. Thank you for your consideration of my comments and for your service on the commission.

Rep. Lauren Boebert won her seat in Congress, because she tirelessly campaigned in every county, city, and town in the Colorado 3rd CD. Nobody in my 82 years ever did that before, nobody. She accomplished this feat on a shoestring budget, unseated an incumbent, soundly defeated her Democrat adversary, while slowly gaining the trust and admiration of the rural Coloradans she now represents. The Colorado 3rd CD is rural in nature. The residents are hardworking, conservative, country people. To even consider redrawing the lines of the 3rd CD to include Boulder, CO, is a travesty because we share nothing with the city of Boulder. I urge you to leave the 3rd CD as it is now. Our choice for representation in Congress is Lauren Boebert because she actually represents us. Changing district boundaries to include Boulder would be a disservice to all the district’s residents. Thank you.

The Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission has an important job to make sure every voters vote and voice is heard. As such, the committee should not look to politics, outside money, lobbyist to influence the important job of redistricting. Instead, the Commission should listen to the voice and desires and people of the community being represented by these districts. Any redistricting should consider these important factors: Guaranteeing voting rights for all, including people of color. Preservation of communities of interests as well as geographic divisions such as counties, cities and towns, while also making districts compact. Creating competitive districts whenever possible. A prohibition on political gerrymandering or drawing districts to benefit a political party, incumbent or candidate. In considering those important goals, the people and voters of Chaffee County has the desire to be grouped with more similar counties with more similar interests, and request we are included in the Third Congressional District (CD3) and within House District 61 (HD61) and remain in Senate District (SD5) boundaries. This isn't partisan - this is about ensuring effective representation and advocacy for local community needs and priorities, which are generally more connected to our neighboring rural, western, recreation-focused communities than is reflected in districting right now. Stand up for the people and voters of Chaffee County and do not let your important decision be impacted by outside money or lobbyist. Thank you, Daniel

I am commenting here today to speak on the diverse and culturally rich city of Aurora, where many of my fellow AAPI communities reside and to request keeping Aurora CO in one congressional district. At a time when the voices and the representation of the AAPI community are not heard enough, we cannot splinter these voices and dilute them into multiple congressional districts. With such a small percentage of CO being of AAPI heritage, it is important that our voices are more prevalent and empowered, which can be done by keeping the city of Aurora in one Congressional district. Furthermore, I strongly recommend not including Parker into the same district as Aurora. Aurora's richness comes from the multi-cultural background of many nations and includes immigrants and refugees with distinct needs and issues. The city of Parker does not have that the diversity nor the backgrounds as Aurora and thus would drown and silence the many needs that the people of Aurora would require. Having 2 cities that are so different in both issues and backgrounds would make a congressional district at odds with itself and impossible to represent because of what is important to some may be at the opposite end for others. We have an opportunity to keeping CO representative and making sure our voices are equally heard and keeping Aurora in one Congressional district apart from Parker will do just that. Thank you.

In the heart of Colorado, Chaffee county residents are United in our love of our public lands. We have Browns Canyon national monument, the Collegiate peaks, and headwaters of the Arkansas. We want to see these natural resources protected. Our local community likes to take care of our citizens and would be supportive of a Colorado public health option, and education at the community college to encourage our local youth to peruse positions that require trained and graduate employment pool.

Committee Members, Thank you for the opportunity and time today. My name is Joseph Shelton, I use he/him pronouns, and live in the zip code of 80910. Today I am writing to request that you hold El Paso County as one congressional district in the redistricting process. The culture in which El Paso County holds is representation to which we must continue to hold as one. The current hold of 6 military installations, veterans affairs office, and defense industries holds the need of one representation and support. Holding multiple different representations could potentially make the work and dedication for change harder. The diverse culture in backgrounds among El Paso County comes with great strength. Cultural communities like college students and older generations, urban and suburban communities, high rate communities and low rate communities, the list of communities goes on and strong. Breaking El Paso County up causes difference in representation and areal difference. I strongly encourage you to hold El Paso County as whole as possible when you plan and select the new congressional areas. Thank you again for your time!

We're a low density population that's growing quickly and are looking at issues with adequate child care, infrastructure, access to healthcare and affordable housing. We have a very large number of public lands that need to be managed responsibly while allowing access to them. While outdoor recreation is a priority, conservation is even higher. With the Arkansas river running through our county and drawing much of our tourism, water conservation is a high priority. We have more in common with surrounding mountain communities like Pitkin, Lake, and Eagle counties. Chaffee County has the desire to be grouped with more similar counties with more similar interests, and request we are included in the Third Congressional District (CD3) and within House District 61 (HD61) and remain in Senate District (SD5) boundaries.

I am concerned that redistricting should (as is indicated in Amendments Y & Z) strive to preserve Communities of Interest as the primary criterion for drawing district lines. This is what voters endorsed and their will should be honored. Focusing instead on existing county lines would be inconsistent with preserving communities of interest in the redistricting process. In Boulder County (where I live), mountain towns share many policy concerns with one another. Some effort should be expended to keep those natural communities of interest whole. Splitting them arbitrarily to conform to preexisting county lines (which were drawn for different purposes) makes no sense. Of course, county lines and county governments serve valid and important administrative functions. However, they do not necessarily reflect the natural boundaries of communities of interest. In fact, a number of communities extend across county boundaries. Communities of Interest reflect important realities about how the people within them actually live and interact. Those communities should respected -- and emphasized -- in in the redistricting process. I am worried that county bureaucracies and lobbying interests will urge redistricting based upon existing county boundaries. Giving in to such lobbying efforts would, in my view, constitute a regressive step that would be inconsistent with fostering real democracy.