On the same day King County Executive Dow Constantine was sworn in, the list of 11 applicants for his now-empty County Council seat was made public. Two are from West Seattle. State Sen. Joe McDermott‘s candidacy already has been covered here – including video of what he told the 34th District Democrats‘ last meeting (see it here), when they voted to support his quest for the job. The other: Vlad Oustimovitch, an architect and planner who runs a West Seattle-based project-management firm and has served on numerous boards and committees including the Southwest Design Review Board, Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholders’ Committee, Southwest District Council, Monorail Board, Fauntleroy Community Association Board. Oustimovitch e-mailed WSB a copy of his application for the position, saying he intends it to be a public document but hasn’t seen King County post the applications yet. You can read it here. We followed up by asking him, so why do you want to be a County Councilmember? Read on for his reply:

A major reason for my interest in this position is the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement process, which affects District 8 more than any other part of the County and is far from completion. A still missing part of the Tunnel + Transit plan is the transit component which will significantly increase service to our District, including the construction of a Rapid Ride line on Delridge and other service improvements. I would like to make that a reality before the viaduct is demolished in 2015, and hopefully sooner. Other important transit improvements that I would like to see are a circulator bus service for West Seattle that will allow us to get around our community and an expanded water taxi facility next to Jack Block Park. A new dock should have facilities with proper connections to the circulator bus route, bicycle storage and adequate parking capacity.

The other issue close to my heart is the need to maintain social services through the economic recession. King County funds a number of programs that help the most disadvantaged members of our society, and there has never been a greater need for those services. Although we often overlook the importance of the County on our community, it provides critical services such as Public Health and Justice for 1.8 million people, as well as a myriad of other functions. Serving as King County Council Member takes a great deal of dedication and work. For the past decade I have devoted 10-20 hours per week to our community in a number of different ways, and feel that I am ready to take on that responsibility. I bring with me the collective wisdom I have gained from the countless people I have worked with on community issues for the past ten years, people who have taught me the importance of public service.

The county council makes the appointment to fill the year remaining in this council position’s term, and has created a 12-member advisory committee to vet the applicants; that group will start interviewing them next Thursday, according to a timeline outlined here. The list of committee members – about half of whom have ties to West Seattle – is included here. They are supposed to recommend at least one finalist who would seek to continue the job by running for it next fall and one who would not. Oustimovitch says he would run. Sen. McDermott too.