Aspen’s elected officials last week decided to not make the preservation of locally serving businesses a critical goal due to the complexity of the issue, but they lamented that the town has changed significantly and local residents are being priced out.
“What I mean are places for locals to still enjoy this community, and we’ve seen such a deterioration of it,” Mayor Torre said during last week’s council goal-setting retreat. “Currently, we have several locally priced affordable restaurants that are not in operation because of redevelopment, and it’s impacting us community wide.”
Recognizing that controlling the market is nearly impossible, council members agreed to continue working on the issue with willing partners, like the chamber of commerce and the business community.
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The long-awaited expansion of the Pitkin County Landfill is expected to begin later this month and provide about six more years of life to the rapidly-filling facility
Anna Stonehouse/Aspen Times file photo
Rob Ittner is back on the local culinary scene as the new food and beverage director at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, where he will take the lead on dining operations at the Snowmass Village arts hub.
Ittner joined the team two weeks ago, he said in an interview Thursday. He plans to kick off the summer season with a Sunday welcome dinner at the on-campus cafe on June 6, just before the return of in-person workshops on June 7.
Ittner has long maintained a philosophy that food is a form of art at culinary ventures like the French bistro Rustique and the Cooking School of Aspen, which he sold in 2019 along with The Cottage Aspen, an art gallery and special events venue.
Anna Stonehouse/Aspen Times file photo
Sunday was a day that was inevitable but still hard to fathom when Mac Smith stepped down as Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol director in his 42nd season in the post.
Smith, 68, will remain on the ski patrol for the foreseeable future during winters and work on special projects during summers. He said Monday he is “half-retiring.”
“Elvis hasn’t left the building. He’s just gone to a different room,” Smith said with his signature sense of humor.
Lori Spence, a longtime member of the Highlands patrol, was appointed as acting director. She is the first woman to serve as director of the Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol.