Public Comments

This is a follow-up comment to add to the previous written and oral comments I have made. With respect to the Congressional District 7 map, version 3, released 2021-09-23: This map is a big improvement over version 2. In particular, I like the way it keeps Jefferson County whole (and separate from Douglas County), except for a small portion of east-central JeffCo: Ken Caryl, Littleton City, and Columbine are a part of CD6 while an area below that (unincorporated ??) is a part of CD4 . . . It maintains Broomfield and a portion of Westminster as a portion of northern JeffCo as well which matches well with our shared interests. I do question the inclusion of Teller, Fremont, and Custer Counties to the south instead of Clear Creek and Gilpin to the northwest. I feel that Clear Creek and Gilpin are more intertwined with JeffCo than the southern counties. Statewide, I question making all the Congressional Districts exactly the same size. There are areas of the State that are rapidly growing in population and areas that are shrinking or not growing. I think that areas of rapid growth should be smaller in initial redistricted population as they will be larger by the time the next redistricting round happens in a decade. Starting with all Districts the same population means that the statewide districts are guaranteed not to be equal population well before the next redistricting. With respect to the Legislative maps, version 2, released 2021-09-23: I think the Senate District 19 is great !! This fully meets all of my concerns to keep the City of Arvada whole and to use the southern boundary of the City as the southern boundary of the Senate District. I think the House District 27 and 29 maps are a good choice to divide the City of Arvada north/south. I do question the decision to take House District south and east into Wheat Ridge rather than west and north to incorporate the City of Golden. If you feel to need to divide Arvada into three parts, Golden is a better fit for West Arvada than Wheat Ridge. I would prefer that you use the southern boundary for the City of Arvada as the southern boundary for two House Districts for Arvada (like Senate District 19) and then draw a boundary line that runs east-west across Arvada to create House District 27 and add areas of Northern JeffCo to northern Arvada to create House District 29. Dividing the City of Arvada into two parts rather then three would be my preferred solution.

Dear redistricting committee, I live in Southeast Colorado in La Junta. I have more in common with the counties around me. These are counties that I will shop at or participate in community events in Eastern and Southeastern Colorado. Please take into consideration that I have more in common with communities that are agricultural. The current map you have has my county relating to counties that I do not travel to on a monthly basis or invest my money in shopping and doing any business. I do not have anything in common with communities that deal with tourism. Please redistrict the map where my county is with other counties that share the same interest in agriculture, community activities, and places I am more likely to go to shop or do business at. The map has to allow the rural and agricultural communities to have a voice. Thanks, Teresa

Jolie you're doing awesome with the comments! <3 The Pueblo, SLV, Arkansas River Valley, Ute Nation "Southern District" area should NOT be extending up the west edge of the state. Doing so explicitly destroys the opportunity of this unique blend of culture and communities to have a voice and be heard. The Schuster map (Amended, P.008) is closer to properly representing this area, however it should extend north from Pueblo into the Fountain, Security, Widefield areas. The Commission committed to keeping Colorado Springs whole, and all military installations within El Paso County together (both of which are mistakes IMO, but what's done is done). Including Fountain, Security, Widefield, and Manitou Springs within the "Southern District" would still comply with this. The best thing about the Amended Schuster map is how competitive some of the districts are. Districts within about a point are genuinely competitive. The "55-45" range as "competitive" is a cruel joke. In case it got lost in the email shuffle, I created a modified Schuster map based on the P.008 Amended Schuster Map by Shepherd Macklin: https://davesredistricting.org/join/758031f2-0319-410c-8ab8-ca210648e01d It meets all of the Commission requirements of which I am aware. It has room to be made more competitive still, however 3 districts are within 1 point, and 1 of those is within .05 making tihs district EXTREMELY competitive, ensuring communities will have a real voice and their representative will be accountable to them. Thank you, Misty PS: Jolie you're doing great! Almost done! ^_^

I would like to support the Schuster map as I live in Mesa County. We have little or no community of interest with Pueblo and southeastern Colorado. In addition, I want CD3 to be a competitive district. I am an independent (unaffiliated) voter and I want myu vote to count and not be a lost cause when voting for my congressman/woman.

Thank you for your service on this commission. And thanks so very much for your commitment to hearing from Coloradans like me who would like to be heard with views you might not be aware of when performing this very important job. Today, I’d like to discuss agribusiness and its role in the Colorado economy. The connection between agribusiness and our state’s farmers and ranchers is real and seemingly self-evident. These combined interests need to be represented by a congressperson who looks at it as his or her focus, not an afterthought. Our agriculture advocacy organizations and businesses that contribute to ensuring and expanding our food supply are critical. If Coloradans across the state didn’t realize this before the pandemic, they realized it soon after our food workers became front line workers and food supplies often ran low. Did you know that there are two national cattle trade associations located here in Colorado? The American Aberdeen Association was formed to provide for the registration and preservation of the purity of the Aberdeen breed by maintaining Aberdeen pedigrees, DNA records and performance data. And the American Salers Association is the official breed registry for Salers and Optimizer cattle in the United States. Groups like these advocate for the livestock industry and ensure that the cattle industry can ensure the quality of the cattle that are offered to consumers in the U.S. and abroad. In addition, Colorado is home to the country’s largest provider of third party verification of food production practices. Where Food Comes From, Inc. is that company. It has divisions that focus on the entire food industry including: livestock certifications that ensure buyers that beef, pork, poultry, lambs, dairy and feed producers meet, among others, the source and age specified product requirements imposed by laws in the U.S. and across the world; verifying gluten-free and non-GMO agricultural production; and certifying sustainable and organic food production. Where Food Comes From services more than 15,000 agricultural producers, retailers, distributors, consumer brands and restaurants. And it’s right here in Colorado. Also, we are on the cutting edge of food production in so many ways. Our farmers and ranchers are innovative, adapting to changed markets and conditions. But there’s another Colorado company, Farm Box Foods, that re-purposes shipping containers into 320 sq ft. farms that grow the equivalent of 2-3 acres of produce farmed the conventional way but use only 5 gallons of water per day. A portable “farm” like that can grow over 100 different varieties of nutrient rich produce year-round, almost anyplace. Not only does it expand our food supply, it’s ecologically sensible. Do you know what all these trade associations and private businesses have in common? They’re among the many agribusinesses that are located in Douglas County – Castle Rock, Parker, and Sedalia, to be specific. They are critically tied to the agricultural mission of the other agriculture-oriented counties in the 4th Congressional District. They share the same federal concerns about export policies, tariffs on foodstuffs, and USDA food grading policies. They should be represented by the same congressperson which is why I’m asking you to correct your staff’s preliminary plan and put Douglas County, not just a part of it, in the congressional district with the eastern plains. All of those counties share an agricultural mission, maybe one of the most important you’ll consider. Thank you!

Dear Redistricting Commissioners, I am very concerned about the third redistricting map revision, released last week on September 23. We live outside of Wellington in unincorporated Larimer County, just inside the western border of the new proposed District 4. Our address is 9545 Olsen Court. The boundary appears to be very arbitrary and does not make logical sense. I strongly suggest you reconsider this boundary. The Town of Wellington is demarked on the attached map and I do not think the boundary should be any further west than Larimer County Road 9. Even the Town of Wellington could be placed back in District 2. There is more affinity regarding demographics and growth trends between Wellington and Fort Collins than the towns east of I25. Please, at least, move the western boundary of District 4 to where it makes the most sense, no further west than Larimer County Road 9. Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions. Sincerely, Elisabeth Ervin-Blankenheim 970-295-4259

Colorado Redistricting Commission: We would like to thank your Commission for the 3rd staff plan map. We who live in the less populated areas of Colorado need to have an assurance that our voices are heard. The recent map better represents all areas ensuring equal population representation. Thank you again for your hard work on this redistricting effort. Roger and Judy Echols Cortez, Colorado

Here we are down to the wire. This will be my fourth time to ask for your support for my county, Routt. Please hear me this last time and put Routt County with like-minded rural western Coloradan’s. We have no commonality with the larger eastern slope. Ag, water, transportation, oil and gas are huge issues here and not so much in Boulder, Larimer counties. I appreciate that this has been a very difficult task. Thank you for serving.

Grouping the western slope with Boulder and other populated cities would be a major mistake. The needs in rural Colorado must be heard, and if we were to be grouped with cities that do not face our challenges, nor share in our specific needs - the damage would be fully to those of us outside of these populated cities.

I previously submitted public comment on communities of interest in the Spring, and I’m excited to see proposals where Congressional District 8 includes all of Commerce City and will hopefully allow my community to be represented. Since submitting my comment, 2020 census data has been released and it shows us that the hispanic population in Commerce City is nearly 49% while the hispanic population in Greeley is nearly 40% and growing. With this growth comes shared challenges, concerns, and needs that warrant these two communities being in the same congressional district. I attended college at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and have firsthand insight on the substantial similarities in the needs of latinos in Greeley and places like Commerce City. Because of that, I urge you to support “Staff Plan 3 Tafoya Amendment 2” as, in my opinion, it’s a map that best represents our community’s needs. Additionally, this map was created in a manner consistent with what voters, including myself, expected from our independent redistricting commissions when Amendments Y & Z were passed in 2018: using public comment, commissioner input, a public mapping workshops, and necessary compromise to attempt and reflect all communities of interest across Colorado. Below you will find my previous comment from May. Please keep our community together. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My name is Teresa Trombley Hernandez and I am a resident of Commerce City, Colorado. It’s my understanding that you are currently collecting public comment on communities of interest that will inform the development of a preliminary congressional map, which will include the additional 8th congressional district. It’s my understanding that you are currently collecting public comment on communities of interest that will inform the development of a preliminary congressional map, which will include the additional 8th congressional district. Recently, I came across an article from the Denver Post that discusses the growth of the Latino community in Adams County specifically. I want to bring this article to your attention (link is at the end of this comment) and share with you more about my community of interest. As highlighted in the article and based on US Census estimates, the Latino population in Adams County makes up 40% of the county’s rapidly growing population. I’ve lived in the west part of Adams County for the majority of my life and as a Latina myself, I have lived and witnessed this growth. From attending public school in Thornton to living in both Northglenn and Thornton, and now raising my family in Commerce City, western Adams County is home and where I, along with many others in the Latino community, have established our roots. Many of us live, work, and access public and private resources across western Adams county. As many members of the Latino community have been priced out of other places in the Denver metro area, our community continues to grow here. Considering that the constitution defines a community of interest as “any group in Colorado that shares one or more substantial interests that may be subject to federal legislative action” and that “groups that may comprise a community of interest include racial, ethnic and language minority groups,” I urge you to draw a map that adequately takes the growing Latino community in western Adams County into consideration. From access to COVID-19 relief resources and vaccinations, to issues of education, affordable housing, public health, environment, and immigration, our community is certainly subject to federal legislative action. My hope is that your approved map will create an 8th congressional district that includes my community. Thank you for your time and consideration. Denver Post Article: https://www.denverpost.com/2021/05/02/denver-suburbs-changing-demographics/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-denverpost&utm_ Teresa Trombley Hernandez