Public Comments

I live in Larimer County just west of Loveland. I consider Loveland and the County my community. How could I possibly know what my community's public policy concerns are? I'm sorry if it seems like a rude response, but that is a terrible question that smacks of "political speak." The only thing that matters is EQUITY. The new districts must be FAIR and COMPETITIVE. I am tired of partisan gerrymandering. I was upset when my county got dumped in with Boulder to give the Democrats a competitive advantage IN CD-2. In my opinion, we have nothing in common with Boulder County. Make the districts fair so neither party has an advantage over the other. That is all I ask. Make it exciting to vote and exercise our constitutional right instead of a waste of time. Thank you.

Congressional: District 1 is a majority-minority district while the 3rd and 8th are both competitive. https://davesredistricting.org/join/648f059f-2e09-4af6-8704-346572b22825 State Senate: There are 4 majority-minority districts. 7 districts are competitive. https://davesredistricting.org/join/817e96f5-fce7-4f36-bda9-acaffc3ba9b4 State House: There are 5 majority-minority districts with 1 of those being majority Hispanic. 12 districts are competitive. https://davesredistricting.org/join/d5c9a32d-f710-4503-8072-75a1d4371ff8

I live in the mountain resort region of Colorado in Eagle County in CD3. The common interests and concerns of our communities are low salaries and high living costs. affordable housing, affordable health care and access to broadband. Keeping the environment clean and safe is also a huge concern. Fires in the past few years have been destructive. Droughts are an issues. It do think there are common interests between farmers/ranchers and the resort area residents. But the current configuration of CD3 is too geographically widespread.

Hello! My name is Jennifer Filipowski and I am writing from Eagle County, CO. I moved back to Eagle about 2 years ago and I am writing to request that the Congressional Redistricting Commission consider Colorado's Mountain Resorts as a community of interest. Right now our mountain resorts are split between districts on the urban front range and rural western slope, so our unique policy concerns get lost. Some of our specific challenges include access to fresh water, protection of public lands and outdoor space, health care access and costs, education, and affordable housing. Many of our issues surround the fact that we have two different levels of part-time residents - older, wealthier people who have second homes in our communities, and transient workers in the outdoor recreation, service, and tourism industries. Both of these populations can be here for up to half the year putting a strain on our public services and infrastructure, and yet they are typically not included in census numbers since April and May is when most of them start leaving for their primary residences, nor are they registered voters in Colorado. This is in addition to a continual rotation of tourists coming to participate in outdoor recreation activities that can easily result in injuries and costly rescue operations. The short-term rental market has had a huge negative impact on the development of affordable workforce housing, which means it is also difficult to keep young people in the area as they begin to consider starting families, thus hampering small businesses that need year-round employees. A high cost of living also means our small businesses and schools need to pay more to attract and keep good employees and teachers. The pandemic has inspired more people to move to our communities from dense urban areas as companies enable employees the freedom to work virtually, children were also forced to learn virtually, and information from public health agencies related to Covid and signing up for testing and vaccinations all required access to the internet. Small businesses are the lifeblood of mountain resort communities as there is a complete lack of large business chains. The downside of this is that most shopping by locals is done via the web since access to certain necessities like clothing and footwear is limited. All this points to the importance of improving our broadband infrastructure, which is severely lacking. Healthcare is one of the biggest issues residents face in mountain resort communities. In Eagle County, if we have any specialists at all, there may be only one option (i.e., only one ENT, only one podiatrist). Despite pediatric dental care being a required part of coverage under the ACA, none of the dentists in Eagle County accept ACA policies - our closest options are in Summit County, and while that is technically within the guidelines required by the ACA regarding distance, that is as the crow flies without a mountain pass in the way. We have access to only one insurance carrier here, Anthem, and even that is split into two networks so only a portion of the doctors are covered depending on which network you are a part of. Overall, insurance coverage in mountain resort communities ranks as some of the most expensive in the country. The protection of our public lands and access to fresh water is always a concern. The climate crisis has led to drought, a reduction in snow and rainfall, and an increase in in wildfires and their severity, which negatively affects both winter and summer outdoor recreation tourism...the biggest industry in our communities. Potential counties to include in a mountain resort district would be Archuletta, Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Custer, Eagle, Fremont, Gilpin, Grand, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Jackson, La Plata, Lake, Larimer, Mineral, Ouray, Park County, Pitkin, Rio Grande, Routt, Saguache, San Juan, and/or Summit. Thank you for your consideration.

My name is Rhonda Horwitz-Romano and I am a 30 year resident of Gilpin County Colorado. We love living in this rural community which includes Black Hawk, Central City, Rollinsville and unincorporated Black Hawk. We take care of each other and we like that our county is small and personable. Please do not change this beautiful community of ours. I request that you keep the entire county in one Congressional District (District 2) one Colorado House District and one Colorado Senate District. Thank you to the Commission staff for taking my written comments on the redistricting process. Respectfully submitted, Rhonda Horwitz-Romano 466 Coyote Circle Black Hawk, Colorado 80422

Dear Colorado Congressional Redistricting Commission, Thank you for dedicating your time and expertise to all Coloradans by serving on this commission. My name is Iris Hentze, a resident and homeowners of Aurora and current constituent of Colorado Congressional District 6 and I'd like to tell you a little bit about my community of interest. Aurora is a geographically large city, my community is located in the North Western corner of the city often referred to as North Aurora or Old Aurora. My community is bordered by Colfax to the south, Yosemite street to the west, I-225 to the east and the Central Park neighborhood (east 26th avenue) to the north. North Aurora is a diverse, minority-majority community with 56% of residents who are Hispanic, 19.7% of residents who are White, 14.5% of residents who are Black and 5.6% of residents who are Asian. This compares to Colorado's statewide demographics where 21.8% of state residents are Hispanic, 86.9% are White, 4.6% are Black and 3.5% are Asian. My community of interest is working class, with the median household income sitting at $34,587 compared to Colorado's statewide median household income of $71,953. 18.3% of residents in my community are living below the poverty level compared to just 9.3% of Colorado residents statewide. In fact, the zip code encompassing my community of interest is one of the poorest in the state and one of the poorest in the Denver Metro area. Maybe it's for one, or a combination of these reasons, that my community of interest has historically been ignored by policymakers at both the state and federal levels. I'm hoping that, with the work of this Commission, the progress my community has made in fighting against this apathy among policymakers over the last ten years can continue for the next ten. I would like the economic and housing interests of my community, along with the unique diversity of residents that is unparalleled almost anywhere in Colorado to be preserved in the preliminary map prepared by the Commission. I strongly urge the Commission to not break up the North Aurora community of interest into smaller parts, instead leaving it whole in the preliminary map. Thank you for your dedication to our state's redistricting process and for your consideration. Best, Iris Hentze

This New York Times article on partisan mapping is both relevant to current segregation by political party and trends that will be cemented unless there are conscious efforts to prevent them: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/17/upshot/partisan-segregation-maps.html?campaign_id=57&emc=edit_ne_20210317&instance_id=28175&nl=evening-briefing&regi_id=47023666&segment_id=53645&te=1&user_id=3111179cc342627f5fe2f7bccbb5a778 If you cannot open newspaper attachments, the article's title is "A Close-Up Picture Of Partisan Segregation, Among 180 Million Voters". It appeared in the Times on March 17, 2021.

I think redistricting should take place on county lines as much as possible. When not possible, as straight a line as possible to separate one part of a county from another should be used.

My name is David O. Williams and I live in unincorporated Eagle County in an area known as EagleVail. Not only is Eagle County divided between CD2 and CD3, but EagleVail is divided with some of my neighbors in CD2 and the rest of us in CD3. Western Eagle County has much more in common as an outdoor recreation and ski county with neighboring Summit and in fact with northern Front Range communities such as Boulder and Fort Collins than with mining and extractive industry hubs such as Grand Junction, whose population currently controls who represents us in Congress. Please consider no longer splitting communities and counties and moving all of Eagle County into CD2. Thanks for your time, consideration and hard work.

First and foremost. My comments have nothing to do with an individual nor any party or group. I am expressing true concerns that 'I' have. First and foremost: I believe the Redistricting Commissions is, by design, party favored. As time goes by the number of registered unaffiliated voters have increased. Yet the powers that be try and hold the two party system front and center. And being a member of the green party (less than five years) I believe the difference between the parties is negligible. Where is the voice of the people who wish not to identify with a party yet believe they have a say in the system of governance. My next concern is the fact that as we become (are) divided in our communities and as a nation folks are drawn together by political views. I.e. gerrymandering. I say this more as as a long time progressive--I don't like branding nor naming however in this case it is for describing know norms--resident of Windsor/weld county where the reputation has drawn like minded folks. this includes hate. leaving little to no opportunity for dialog. Making outsiders enemy's. I suggest 'square' maps where there is NO distinction nor consideration for 'Party affiliation' Lets take out entirely the idea of 'party mapping' Additionally I would like to be able to participate more. so please keep me updated for and when the/any opportunity for the general public to participate. Truly Respectfully As a Neighbor and fellow Coloradoan J.D. Ruybal