Public Comments

As a citizen of Aurora for 8 years, I urge the commission to keep the City of Aurora in one congressional district. As the third largest city in Colorado, it continues to grow and welcome a new, diverse population that deserves to be represented by one Congressperson. As an essential worker during this pandemic and a former USPS postal worker, I know first hand how important federal representation is for my community and how essential it is that we have one congressperson looking out for the interests of all the residents of Aurora.

Please don't redestrict to suppress conservative voices. Colorado is already under one-party rule at this point and has shown it is full of power. It is apparent they are enjoying this one-party rule and nearly unlimited power and control, but there is a very large, I'd even say a majority overall, of Coloradoans who are feeling unheard, unrepresented, and trampled on by the powers that be. Please don't redestrict to further this path. Coloradoans like freedom and it is being taken away - please allow us to be truthfully and accurately represented. Thank you.

I believe that all ski areas/mountain towns should be grouped in one district. The people that also live in these communities have similar interests like not allowing reintroduction to wolves that should not be voted on by people that will not be affected by it. We are concerned about too much buildings in our small towns and all the water being sent down the river because of handshake deals back in the day. We want to be represented by someone that understands what we worry about. We care about farming and ag however, that is not what most of us do - we are in the hospitality industry and we want to make sure we are represented by someone that can comprehend that.

Grand County is a rural and recreational based area with a small population. Sadly we are tied to the Front Range areas, which are suburban and urban and have a different set of issues and ways of life. In every election, Republicans win the majority in Grand County, but when mixed in with the Front Range voters always ends up with the seat going to the Democrats. This is not representative of our County the way an election should be. Similar counties that should be it's own district as they have the same demographics and economy are Summit, Eagle, Routt, Pitkin, Gunnison, Clear Creek and Grand, all based on ski resort communities mixed in with ag and ranching. Please keep our district to the WEST of the Continental Divide!

I am hopeful that redistricting Colorado will undo gerrymandering. My hope is there is more competitive congressional & state & house districts. We need to show the nation that by enacting our redistricting reforms in Colorado that we will have fair elections in our future. I live in Congressional District 5 & because of the gerrymandering a Democrat never has a chance. You have a tough job ahead-Good Luck!!

A “community of interest” could easily be used as a slippery slope designed to support both self-serving, self-promoting members of Colorado’s state and U.S. legislative chambers. The core reasoning of establishing an independent commission was to get away from the “having the accused criminals (the politicians) select their own jury (the redistricticting process).” Do not stack the deck(s) to the benefit of either lobbyists or groups and politicians maneuvering for their own personal gain, not the overall best interests of Colorado. We’re Colorado, not California, aren’t we?

As an engaged local citizen of Colorado Springs, a small business CEO, and a mother to two children and a wife of a first responder, I humbly write today asking your consideration in the matter of congressional and legislative redistricting. The charge before you is critical to the health of the nation and the State of Colorado. For too long, the United States has become more and more politically divided. In my experience working in the space of health policy at the Colorado Capitol one thing became extremely clear – bipartisan legislation, diversity of experiences, and intelligent debate make for a stronger society and better/sustainable long-term solutions. As a resident of El Paso County it is my humble opinion that our district boundaries are not reflective of the diverse values and thoughts of our residents. In fact, these boundaries are not reflective of the growth in population we have seen respective to our political representation in policy drafted at both the state and federal levels. Through your work, you are offered the immense responsibility and opportunity to ensure Colorado, and the nation, hold tight the fact that intelligent debate brings forth more representative solutions. A variety of issues unite our community - primarily in the space of military service, affordable housing, homelessness, access to affordable and high quality health care, protection of small businesses, and economic opportunity. These same issues comprise our public policy concerns. As a growing community, both economically and of population, we have harnessed our strengths to propel our little city in the foothills into success. For this success to be sustainable in the long-term, I implore you to acknowledge that all of Colorado Springs and El Paso County deserve a fair political representation as an acknowledgement of this diversity and growth.

I am writing to urge you to treat the mountain resort communities -- especially ski country -- as a community of interest, and to take that community of interest into account when drafting district maps. Mountain resort communities face multiple challenges in ways that other parts of the state do not. These common issues include: -- Significant dependence upon ski companies, most of which are not local, for the economic livelihood of the community -- Near total economic dependence upon recreation on public lands -- Large numbers of second homeowners, many of whom are from out of state -- The highest housing prices in the state and huge challenges with providing affordable workforce housing -- A lack of affordable health care options (this problem is common to rural communities) All mountain resort communities face these issues in significant ways. They have far more in common with each other than they do with the front range, agricultural communities in eastern or western Colorado, regional urban centers such as Grand Junction, or rural communities that are largely dependent upon mining, ranching, or other extractive activities. A logical grouping of mountain resort communities would run down the spine of the western slope, starting with Steamboat in the north, heading south through Summit, Eagle, Pitkin, and Gunnison Counties, and ending in La Plata County. Thank you for the opportunity to comment and for considering this community of interest in your map-drawing process. Bill Mooz

Thank goodness for an independent commission! Redistricting should NOT be about politics or party, but about people - and more specifically people living together in community. No district should be formed with political party as even a consideration, it should be - as directed - be about numerical compactness and the ability for me to be in touch with my representative in the most effective way possible! Any map should be drawn and viewed based on population, not on land mass! Land mass does not vote, people do. So to represent wide swaths of geography with few people could not be more misleading. The same could be said for geographic barriers - with the vast majority of communication occurring electronically, the days of a barnstorming trip around one’s district is only a quaint notion (not that even a representational portion of people even show up). This should be a straight math equation - average number of people per district. thank you.

The current district boundaries put rural Grand County in the same district as urban Boulder, Larimer and Jefferson counties. There little or no shared interests among these areas. Grand County is mostly rural in character and is part of western Colorado lying west of the continental divide. Grand County should be included with the other communities in western Colorado as it shares similar interests with respect to water, agriculture and rural issues. It would be better represented by persons elected from that area.