Public Comments

Hello, my name is Jennifer Parenti and I live on the Weld County side of Erie, CO. This is an important distinction to make as here in Erie, as in many communities up and down the northern I-25 corridor, our little town of 25,000 people is split across two counties, which has led to it also being split across two Congressional districts, two Colorado House districts and two Colorado Senate districts. Erie, like many communities along the I-25 corridor, has been hit hard in the past decade by significant population growth. It's one of the many communities that is making Weld the fastest growing county in our state and Greeley/Weld the 3rd fastest growing metro region in our country. I believe the communities along this corridor should be considered their own Community of Interest for Congressional redistricting purposes. We share so many common concerns related to affordable housing, roads, public transportation (esp to/from the airport and downtown Denver), schools, healthcare and sustainability, that we could really benefit from shared representation in Congress. Among the many concerns I have: - Massive population growth along the Northern I-25 corridor has blurred the lines between Weld, Boulder and Larimer counties. Across the region, our communities are growing together and a number of towns (Erie, Longmont, Johnstown, Windsor, Timnath, etc) straddle multiple counties, making county lines more of an administrative and confusing technicality rather than a boundary line between communities. - These communities share common services that also cross multiple counties: school districts, healthcare systems, retail and entertainment services, etc.. - These communities are facing a common set of challenges, mainly related to rampant population growth, that a single representative would be in a better position to tackle: infrastructure (particularly broadband, energy and water), public transportation (particularly regional rail, highways and airport access), school access and equality, environmental issues and land management, healthcare access and equality, rapidly changing demographics, just to name a few. - The minimal boundaries of this district would need to include: to the south, the border between Weld and Adams County and Highway 7; to the east, up to and including all of Weld County Road 49; to the West, in Boulder County, Highway 287 and the entirety of the City of Longmont, in Larimer County, the western borders of the cities of Loveland and Ft Collins; and to the north in Weld County Highway 14 and the entirety of the City of Wellington. - This proposal acknowledges that the mountain communities of both Boulder and Larimer counties share a different set of policy concerns than those along I-25 and recommends those be aligned with other mountain communities to better amplify and support their needs. - This proposal acknowledges that the rural communities of Eastern Weld County share a different set of policy concerns than those along I-25 and recommends those be aligned with other rural communities to better amplify and support their needs. - This district would be *highly* competitive with online tools suggesting a near perfect 50/50 split in both 2018 and 2016 election results. (2020 results not available) Thank you for your consideration. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you, Jennifer Parenti Please note: the attached map is for illustrative purposes only, pending results of the 2020 Census. It was created at davesredistricting.org

Hi, My family and I are Grand County residents and it's entirely frustrating every election season to realize we are grouped together with Front Range counties (Boulder, Jefferson, & Larimer). The voting residents of Grand County share many more common concerns and interests with other rural, Western Slope counties than we do with those that are part of the Denver MSA. There's no logical reason, given this forthcoming opportunity for redistricting, to keep us attached to metropolitan area counties. I believe our County Commission shares this view and it would be a great relief to see sanity injected into the redistricting process in regard to Grand County. Sincerely, Chris Bennett Tabernash, CO

Thoughts on Political Competitiveness and guest speakers: Political Completeness seems to be factoring in opportunity for political affiliation to sneak political bias back into the equation. We understand the usefulness of Political Completeness, however it should be the least of factors for consideration. Political affiliations are individual matters and should not be a part of representation, the factors that merit a higher priority are should be based on geographical data, cultural, economic, common ground issues, and communities of interest, and only then political completeness should be only a statistical or as predictive observation tool. We took exception with your speaker Robert Ioeny’s suggesting that Denver and El Paso County maintain one county Congressional Districts. He said Community Interest is a democratic ploy and then advocated the large one district Congressional District, which is not what the Colorado voters wanted when we approved referendums ‘’ and ‘z’. Professor Ioeny demonstrated that by using his status as a political science professor that he was lobbing for the Republican position, which has been against the idea of independent commission all along. His testimony should not be considered since it is biased in nature, and he has his own agenda. His views are an exact opposite of why the commission was formed to start with. We have yet to hear anyone comment on creating of a Southern Colorado Congressional District, however we have the required population if El Paso County is Split in half, The northern portion of El Paso County, coupled with Douglas County should produce a strong Congressional District and if Political Completeness is to be a factor then we cannot think of a better reason as to create two districts from El Paso County, and probably do the same in Denver. We, in South-Central Colorado have strong community interest, and the geographical cohesion yet all I hear is to keep the same old districts and old attitudes control Colorado’s Congressional Delegation. We do not consider that argument of being representation conducive. Commissioners, please review the maps we sent on the current congressional districts as compared to suggestions of remapping the congressional districts. We need a Congressional District for South-Central Colorado. We sent them pdf through the web form 6-7-2021. Thank You Thomas McKenna, written on behalf of Citizens of True Southern Colorado

The single most important resource in the state is water. For the preliminary maps, I would like to see an attempt to organize our political districts around watersheds. If the South Platte River watershed is used to create districts, it might be possible to have both urban and rural concerns represented in the same district. Another watershed-based idea is to combine areas on both sides of the continental divide. One having one person represent both the watershed losing water through transbasin diversions and the watershed receiving the water could be useful. This watershed approach could be used for the US House, the State House and the State Senate. Thank you and I look forward to review the preliminary maps.

I believe that Longmont has more shared values with Boulder County than with Weld, so I don't agree with the redistricting that includes the town in Weld County. Keep Longmont in Boulder County, whichever district that is. Our water comes from the mountains, and the entire St. Vrain watershed is important to our community. Just seeing the pandemic response in neighboring Weld County this past year gave me chills, I need to know the my county department of public health actually has the public's health as their main focus. Thank you.

The third congressional district needs to be split up to better reflect the differences between a county like Routt vs. pretty much all of the rest of the district.

I am a grand county resident. I oppose any move of the county to district 3. District 3 is all ready way too large in geographic area to establish good representation. Grand is primarily a tourism economy and it makes sense to be grouped with our neighboring counties that deal with similar challenges such as Summit and district 2 Eagle. Thank you for considering this comment.

The state of Colorado is increasingly becoming a sandwich with red bread (rural west & east) with blue meat (Front Range & resort mountain communities). Are there any potential scenarios where a new district might include the high country resort communities from Steamboat Spring, Granby, Dillon/Silverthorne in the north, through Eagle, Glenwood, Carbondale, Aspen, Gunnison, Paonia, Buena Vista, Salida in the center and into Durango in the south. Most of these mountain communities feel they aren't well represented, especially with regards to the 3rd district. These communities are progressive and look to the future with regards to energy, social justice, the environment and the importance of recreation to their economies. I believe counties have been split congressional before (Eagle) and it may be time to look at similar options if it would help in better representing the rural western and eastern portions of the state along with the mountain resort communities. The 3rd and 4th districts in general have much in common; agriculture mostly and one could argue that Routt, Eagle, Pitkin, Gunnison, Lake, Ouray, San Juan and La Plata have more in common with the 2nd and 5th districts. The smaller counties of Hinsdale, Mineral and Archuleta could also fall into the mountain community definition with much of their economies tied to recreation. What a task to accomplish, good luck.

Longmont has a demographic and economic trajectory with a history that is best served by the competitive representation in its association with the rest of Boulder County than associations with Weld county, with a very different economy and public priorities. Assigning Longmont to Weld County would immediately place the differing priorities at work in Longmont at risk, generating conflict and issues on very fundamental topics as presently balanced voices are drowned out by an overwhelming and uncompetitive novel majority.

It is important that the city of Westminster be contained within a single Congressional District. Currently the city, contained within both Adams and Jefferson counties, is also within CD7 and should remain so. The issues that affect Westminster and its relationships with neighboring parts of the counties and state, as well as Congressional-level issues, should have a unitary approach from the Congressional level. Dividing the city between CDs would lead to confusion and disparate treatment of the different parts of what is a whole, progressive and unified city. Secondly, keeping the CD7 boundaries as they are with relation to Westminster has an important additional benefit. I serve as Vice-chair of the Westminster Environmental Advisory Board, and since there is currently no oil/gas drilling in the city as there is in some neighboring areas, we do not have intense and protracted debates over drilling permits, conditions and regulations. It would be most unfortunate if this burden were to be added to the city when it is quite unnecessary. Issues such as waste disposal, composting and community recycling resemble more closely communities like Lakewood and Arvada.