I'm happy to see that reconsideration of statewide map A5 is on the Commission's agenda for its 10/20 meeting. However, if this refers to the A5 senate map, I'll point out that this map was posted on 10/3 and, therefore, could not reflect citizens' comments on the maps made at 6 virtual hearings held after 10/3.

For reasons I do not understand, the new A5 map would change the SD30 to encompass part of western Henrico County along with Goochland and Powhatan counties - two dissimilar and largely rural counties. This map has the western portion of Henrico County being split into 3 separate Senate districts. My section of western Henrico County has been drawn into a district under the A5 map that would share a district line with three other Senate districts in my county alone (16, 27, and 28) - please do not split up Henrico County in this way.

I was honored that Craig County was the #1 voting locality (81.7%) for the formation of the Redistricting Commission. In part, this was because Craig County is currently represented in the Virginia Senate by a Senator in Lynchburg. Though Senator Newman has done a fine job of representing our values, it is easy to see that Craig County is culturally and geographically different than Lynchburg and interested in different priorities. It is my assessment that Craig County should be in a Roanoke-based House of Delegate's district to maintain our community of interest. Craig County is in the Roanoke Metropolitan Region with a Roanoke-centric population base. A vast majority of our workforce travels to Roanoke County every day for employment utilizing Craig County's primary road, Rt 311, for travel. Rt. 311 is also a road maintained out of the Roanoke-based VDOT Salem residency. Craig County has just one small grocery store and most households rely on Salem/Roanoke as the closest source of broader options and prices. The largest industry in Craig County, a sand mining plant, relies on roads in the Catawba Valley to reach the Roanoke Cement Co. If you dial 911 in Craig County and need transportation to a hospital, the odds are more than 85% in favor of you being transported to a Roanoke-based hospital. Craig County law enforcement is trained at Cardinal Justice Academy in Salem and our allotment of State Troopers serves out of the Area 40 Office (Roanoke and Craig Counties). Our namesake, Robert Craig, was a Roanoke-based delegate. To remove Craig County from a Roanoke-based district would ignore substantial precedent in the fact that Craig County has never been paired within a district which does not include a majority in Roanoke County or Botetourt. Removing Craig County's Roanoke-based representation in the House of Delegates serves only to detach our interests from representation in Richmond.

I strongly urge you to keep the all or the northern part of Spotsylvania Co. with Fredericksburg and Stafford Co. We share regional concerns and interests. Using the zip codes associated with the Fredericksburg postal address will define this strong community of interest.

As previously commented, this does not make sense to have Campbell County paired with counties so far north and south of them. Campbell County is part of the "Region 2000" with Bedford, Lynchburg, Amherst, Appomattox, so it does not make sense to share district with people not in the foothills of Lynchburg. Can the commission look at taking Rockbridge county out of the proposed district 35, putting Campbell into 35 and restructuring there?

The elongation of the district in NE/SW direction goes from high density Tyson to residential estate and would be better if elongation was NW/SE, parallel to Route 7 and Dulles Access, which would keep high density development together

Blacksburg, Radford, and Christiansburg share much more in common with the proposed 37th district than with the rest of the 38th that they are included with in this map. They share a similar culture, community, and interests with the area of Roanoke; much more so than with the rest of the counties to the north that they are stuck with in district 38. They have different economic, social, and cultural interests than the rest of the district, and I urge you to keep them together in one district in order to allow them to choose representation that has their interests in mind.

The “community of interest” for Fredericksburg economically extends into southern Stafford County and northern Spotsylvania westward along Route 3. It makes no sense to combine Stafford County and Fredericksburg with King George County. It is good that the City of Fredericksburg is no longer divided, but it is much smaller than other Virginia cities and relies economically on its neighbors to the immediate north and south. King George is much more rural. The map drawers should not rely on “their own knowledge” for this area. As an alternative - District 13 in B3 Statewide SD would work really well.

Thank you for keeping Fredericksburg in one Senate district. However, as many others have previously stated, grouping our City with King George County - while it may work for your numbers - makes no sense. In addition, excluding parts of Spotsylvania County means exluding people whose mailing addresses are Fredericksburg, who think of themselves as living in Fredericksburg and whose economic interests are closely intertwined with the City's, also makes little sense.

Thank you for keeping Fredericksburg in one Senate district. However, as many others have previously stated, grouping our City with King George County - while it may work for your numbers - makes no sense. In addition, excluding parts of Spotsylvania County means exluding people whose mailing addresses are Fredericksburg, who think of themselves as living in Fredericksburg and whose economic interests are closely intertwined with the City's, also makes little sense.

I strongly urge the Commission to reconsider this district. King George County has little in common with the remainder of the district. Residents of South Stafford, Fredericksburg City, and Northern Spotsylvania form a cohesive community of interest. We all consider ourselves part of "Fredericksburg" even if we live outside the confines of the city proper. Our communities are all suburban or exurban whereas King George is predominantly rural. It makes no sense to chop our region up this way.

Blacksburg and Radford are university communities and have little in common with the rural counties to the west and north. District 38 as shown extends from Montgomery County to Highland County. There is no transportation corridor or community of interest that unites these counties. Please adjust districts 37 and 38 to group Radford and Blacksburg with Roanoke, which shares many economic and cultural interests, rather than with the northern rural counties.