Really Dumb FAA Move

[champ driver]

You are correct Bill that Aspen is not a one way runway, but most of the time it is for most turbine operators. Most jets will choose to land straight in rather than circle, and some company operations manuals may prohibit it. Also, probably most jets are limited to no more than a 10kt tailwind for takeoff and landings in their limitations section of the aircraft manual.
Because of the elevation and length of the runway, it can get real short in the summer if you want to go somewhere farther than maybe Denver. The truth is, that there's a huge performance penalty on takeoff, jets always have to plan on losing an engine at near rotation speed, and be able to clear obsticles at the end of the runway, let alone the ones farther down valley.

I do agree with you 100% that ATC should not do anything to negatively impact safety. Pilots should be assertive enough to say to ATC anytime that they need to do something for safety and not let themselves be talked in to something they shouldn't or couldn't do.
An example of this is at my home town airport. Almost all the time when landing my Champ, the tower will ask me "where are you parking" while still rolling out, sometimes the tail is still up when they ask. At that point I'm still flying the plane and I don't want to be distracted until I get off the runway and have things under control. I wont answer them until I'm clear of the runway, then we'll talk about parking information. I'm sure they just do this out of habit by trying to expedite traffic. I don't think they realize that I just can't touchdown and jump on the brakes and make a certain turnoff like a Cessna 172.

As for the other aspect of the west side taxiways and length. I'm not familiar with the latest local politics and what may be the future plans for the airport. I do agree that I would not like to see larger jets in my hometown airport too. Unfortunately Aspen is a beautiful place and that attracts a lot of people, and some of them have deep pockets that has a certain amount of influence.