Pete Spalding, one of two West Seattle community representatives on the Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholders Advisory Committee, regards himself as a "neighborhood activist."

"I have a deep interest in what happens in my neighborhood," he says with a slight Louisiana drawl. "I like to stick my nose in stuff."

Spalding, who lives in the North Delridge neighborhood of Pigeon Point, is president of the Southwest District Council. He served on the board of the University District Food Bank for six years, leaving only because of their term limits. After four months off, he then joined the board of the West Seattle Food Bank. After two years there, he serves as its president.

Spalding says he has worked for banks, and currently a credit union, providing financial services, but "that has no bearing on what I do with my volunteer time whatsoever."

"I'm not a business rep (for the committee)," he says. "There are other folks there who do represent the business interests."

Grace Crunican, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, invited him to join the committee with a phone call in mid-November.

"I was a little puzzled how they selected who they did," he says. "But after seeing the other folks, I can see they picked people who have a history of being involved in their communities on a number of different issues, not just transportation."

Some people he has talked to have the misperception the committee will decide what will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. "This is not a decision-making group," says Spalding. "Just a sounding board for the three department of transportations."

"(Crunican) laid out what the ground rules will be," he says, "giving me a brief overview of where we've been, where we need to go, without being specific on how we're to get there."

Maintaining capacity over West Seattle's link to downtown, even during construction of a replacement to the viaduct, is the top priority, says Vlad Oustimovitch, its second community representative to the Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholders Advisory Committee.

He admits what form that capacity takes is controversial.

"Most people are nostalgic for the views while driving through downtown," he says. "But I can't imagine how the people downtown would accept another elevated structure."

Others are apprehensive about a tunnel. But new boring technology, mentioned at the Dec. 13 meeting, might eliminate having to raze the existing viaduct during new construction.

"(A cut-and-cover tunnel) would involve several years of zero capacity for West Seattle," Oustimovitch says. "That wouldn't cut it. West Seattle would become a ghost town during those years."

"There was almost universal agreement that capacity must be maintained in some way," Oustimovitch says of public meetings in West Seattle before the votes against a new elevated structure and against a tunnel. In a slip of the tongue, he once said, "This is the one bottleneck to the city that must be maintained in some shape or form."

Before he left the board of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Oustimovitch says he wrote their transportation policy. He served as president of the Southwest District Council for two years in 2002-2003. He is currently on its transportation committee.

"(That committee) has not been particularly active recently," he says. "Transportation has been in a lull after the votes against the viaduct and the monorail. This is a good opportunity to get it reinvigorated."

The invitation to join the viaduct committee "came out of the blue," says Oustimovitch, a phone call from Grace Crunican, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation in November. But after serving on the Seattle Monorail Project, closing those boxes for archive just last week, he hopes that people in grassroots efforts will continue to think creatively.

"The government is so bureaucratic," he says, "that it doesn't always come up with the best solution."

Originally from Nova Scotia, Oustimovitch is embarrassed to admit he has a graduate degree in urban design and planning from Harvard.

"I usually don't tell people about that," says Oustimovitch. "It's not really who I am."

He has been self-employed as an architect for 22 years, currently working out of his Gatewood home on Southwest Orchard Street. His says his work isn't the important aspect. "I wasn't invited to be on this committee for my professional background."

He has been helping a neighborhood group for the last year to develop plans requesting King County and the Port of Seattle move the landing dock for the Elliott Bay Water Taxi. Seacrest Park has limited parking and no access for large buses. Further south, Jack Block Park at the Port's Terminal 5, could be developed with a bus lane and more parking, closer to commuters coming from Delridge neighborhoods.

"'Water taxi' is a bad name," he says, implying the boat is transportation for one or two individuals. "It actually has significant capacity."

Ballard members

Mary Hurley spent four hours poring over the manual given to each member on the Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholders Advisory Committee. She printed out the 68 pages of minutes from the first meeting Dec. 13 and the comments submitted with them.

"That's not a half-hour of light reading with a glass of chardonnay," she says.

Hurley owns Best Regards, a stationery and gift store she opened on Northwest Market Street 14 years ago. Rolls of wrapping paper behind the counter hang in neat rows and columns, each unfurled to the same display length.

She says the merchandise for her store, delivered by UPS, USPS and FedEx, comes over the viaduct.

"That's called freight mobility," she says. "Every single business in the area will be affected by what they do to the viaduct. If I have any bias, as a small business owner, that's it."

Does she feel she represents Ballard businesses on the viaduct committee?

"Yes and no," says Hurley. "I could represent the economic part as a small retail owner. But the economic-specific organizations will speak to the economic interests."

She emphasizes the committee will not decide what will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. "We're not meant to take a vote. We're looking for a solution that a majority of the stakeholders can buy into. We are trying to find a proposal that might work."

"I'll try to come to the committee without my mind set," says Hurley. "How many other people will do that?"

Mahlon Clements, the second representative from Ballard-Fremont to the Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholders Advisory Committee, did not return phone calls.

Matthew G. Miller may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnew.com