One familiar West Windsor name will not be on the ballot this November. First term council member Diane Ciccone has decided not to run for re-election. But new on the political scene is Greg Harris, a Piedmont Road resident, who is running as an independent.
Ciccone says she has done some “soul searching” over whether to run again. When she started on Council shortly after the 2008 recession hit, her legal practice in New York was “on life support” and she had plenty of free time. Since then her business has picked up and begun to conflict with the time demands of Council work.
In addition she is planning a sequel to her documentary film about West Windsor’s Glen Acres integrated housing development. “I am at an age where there are other things I still want to do,” she says.
The newcomer, Harris, states his reasons for running in a statement on his website — www.gregoryharris.org. Harris describes himself as “an 11-year resident of West Windsor, with three children who have made their way through the school system and are now in high school. For the last 15 years I have owned my own Internet, software, and mobile technology start-ups, many of which made their way from a bootstrapped idea in my head, to being acquired by public and private companies. I spent 10 years before that in the corporate world running IT and software development departments.
“But most importantly, I am the typical West Windsor resident who is busy with his job, business, family, and the stresses of every day life. Like most residents, I have been too absorbed in my own world to pay attention to what is happening in my town, or to where the enormous amount of taxes I have paid has gone. I simply trusted my town leaders.
“Over the last few years, as housing developments appeared that I knew nothing about, and ‘Las Vegas’ marquee flashing signs showed up at dangerous intersections, and large and small brand businesses left the center of our town, and shopping centers sat vacant and boarded up, I started to wonder what was going on here.”
Harris recently has been seen at Council meetings and at the September 7 meeting of the Planning Board, which was the subject of a post on his website. Harris also posts discussions of various issues at www.facebook.com/GregHarrisWW.
