Porter Creek resident Cam Koss has announced his intention to seek the seat on city council left vacant with Doug Graham's election to the territorial legislature last Tuesday.

And Mike Tribes, the NDP candidate who lost to the Yukon Party candidate in Porter Creek North, is also thinking seriously about running.

The byelection to fill the vacancy until the general municipal election next October is scheduled for Dec. 1, with nominations closing Nov. 10. (See separate story, this page.)

Koss said residents are concerned city council is ignoring issues they raise.

"It just seems there is a lot of time the concerns they are bringing forward are not being acted upon,” he said after Monday night's meeting, while sitting in the council chambers.

"It is one thing to listen and it's another to act upon them.

"People turn out and say they do not want something and the city says, ‘OK, we hear you, but we are going to do it anyway.'”

City planning in general, said Koss, seems to be somewhat helter-skelter, something of a knee-jerk reaction that leads to twists and turns that shouldn't be encountered once city hall has provided direction.

He noted how just recently residents came forward with applications to subdivide relatively new lots.

Once the city has completed a neighbourhood planning exercise, it shouldn't be subject to a variety of changes, said Koss. He has appeared regularly before city council over the last year to express concern over council's push for infill housing.

Koss suggested the drive for all the infill lots is cloaked in the disguise of helping to ease the squeeze on housing.

The city, he insisted, is not suffering a housing crisis; it's in a crisis for affordable housing.

There are 150 houses in Whitehorse listed on the blanket real estate listings right now, he said, but only those who already have enough equity in their current home can afford the new housing going up.

Tribes said he is 95 per cent committed to seeking the vacant seat.

"After the territorial election, one of my constituents called me and was really keen on me representing her,” Tribes said in an interview this morning. "She said, ‘if you run for city council, I'll be your campaign manager.'”

He said it's not that he's coming off the territorial election still charged, but rather the desire which prompted him to seek a seat in the legislature is still with him.

"I just had this real strong urge to do something for my community, which is why I ran in the territorial election,” he said. "I just see this as another opportunity to do something for my community.”

Koss and Tribes both live on the same street in Porter Creek, Koss pointed out, adding they've each signed the other's nomination papers.

Koss said he will run in the October 2012 general election whether he's successful Dec. 1 or not.

Graham was in his fourth term on council, having served 11 consecutive years.

Graham won Porter Creek North with 400 votes, compared to 253 for Tribes.