The Seattle Monorail Board nominated a West Seattle man and a Ballard man to fill board vacancies.
Gatewood Hill resident Vlad Oustimovitch is a former member of the Seattle Monorail Review Panel, former president of the Southwest District Council. An architect, Oustimovitch also served on the West Seattle Design Review Board and is currently on the board of directors for the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Oustimovitch runs his own consulting business. He has managed public-private real estate developments and has experience disposing of surplus railroad land.
Joining him is another new member, Peter Goddu of Ballard. An attorney, he specializes in real estate, business and commercial law.
Goddu is a member of the Ballard Chamber of Commerce board of directors and is a member of the Ballard Seaport Association.
Oustimovitch and Goddu were nominated to replace former board members Kristina Hill and Susan L. Secker. Their nominations must be ratified by the Seattle City Council.
"Our number one task is to capture the best offers possible for SMP properties," said Monorail Board Chairwoman Beth Goldberg. "Vlad and Peter's expertise will help ensure favorable and expeditious real estate deals that will assist in shortening the length of time that taxpayers pay their monorail MVET (motor-vehicle excise tax)."
Goldberg was also heartened by the fact that Oustimovitch and Goddu live in West Seattle and Ballard respectively and therefore know the communities and the surplus monorail properties there.
"The people of Northwest and Southwest Seattle have been so much a part of the Monorail dialogues," Goldberg said. "It seems only fitting that they be at the table."
If confirmed by the City Council, Oustimovitch and Goddu will be seated with recently appointed Board Member Tim Kerr and Board Members Beth Goldberg, Jim Nobles, State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Richard Sundberg, Paul Toliver, and Steve Williamson to focus efforts on selling the monorail project's real estate holdings, reducing its debt and moving quickly to cancel the MVET dedicated to the Monorail.
Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.
