Roger Marolt

1 week ago | aspendailynews.com | Roger Marolt

I don’t know how we lost control of this town’s destiny. I don’t believe a panel of economists and sociologists could explain it. As with long COVID, doctors can run tests and tell you what’s going wrong, but not why it is. They try to make you comfortable. There’s no sense wasting time thinking about it. That’s just the way it is. Few who ever lived in Aspen wanted the downtown retail scene to be dominated by exclusive brand-name boutiques and high-priced restaurants instead of locally owned shops.

2 weeks ago | aspendailynews.com | Roger Marolt

The “Fool on Fanny Hill” has spoken. Locals in mountain towns from Aspen and Snowmass Village to Taos and Tahoe — and from Telluride to Stowe, Sun Valley, Crested Butte, Breckenridge, Jackson Hole and beyond — heed his words. Because second-homeowners investing millions of dollars in the communities you built from scratch want a formal say in local politics.

3 weeks ago | aspendailynews.com | Roger Marolt

Not many might recall that I used to write a weekly column for the Snowmass Sun. Scribing for the tiny paper that has mostly resembled an insert for The Aspen Times wasn’t my first assignment as a writer. I had been at the Times for several years before. To the best of my recollection, the editor of the Sun asked me to fill in for a “couple of weeks” while she searched for a new columnist to replace a regular who suddenly quit. Those couple of weeks turned into a 15-year run. It wasn’t bad.

1 month ago | aspendailynews.com | Roger Marolt

A few weeks ago talking about the Quiet Years in Aspen, I shared that one of my great uncles frequently remarked that the reason the Marolts stayed in Aspen was that they “were too poor to leave.” A friend told me he has heard similar remarks from some living in APCHA housing. That possibility has crossed my mind, but having it verbalized by a real voice and not just the little one in my head got me sorting through the cerebral dust bin to gather thoughts I had tossed.

1 month ago | aspendailynews.com | Roger Marolt

It’s time to Tye dye the sign ordinances, and a whole lot more!Mark Tye is clearly in violation of the sign ordinance. In fact, he threw the sign rulebook out the window and it’s probably out there in his front yard with the signs he put up that he was supposed to keep down. As law-abiding citizens for bettering the future of this town and to honor common sense as a guiding principle, I believe we, the good people of Aspen, have only one choice in this matter. We can’t make an exception for Tye.