Greg Akrey A 1991 car accident with an uninsured motorist left Greg Akrey with a broken neck, financial ruin and a life full of emotional turmoil. But he did not give up on life, he said. Now he's running for City Council, and he's giving his campaign all he's got.

Akrey fought back from the day of the accident to be where he is today. There is no outward appearance of the trauma he said he suffered 17 years ago when a van driven by his wife was struck by another car at Westlake Boulevard and the 101 Freeway.

"Our children were in car seats, and one of the car seats came loose and the van's sliding door came open, so I took off my seat belt to try and save my daughter," Akrey recalled.

Because of centrifugal force from the spinning vehicle, he could not move; then the van hit a guard rail before it came to a stop.

"That's when my neck was broken," he said.

His wife and kids, all wearing seat belts or in car seats, were all right, but Akrey went to the hospital, where he underwent the first of several surgeries. Life as he knew it changed forever. The man who was a general contractor and real estate agent found himself struggling to survive, he said.

Now Akrey runs a nonprofit that helps others. His main focus at this time is helping people overcome addiction to street drugs and prescription drugs, he said.

Meanwhile, he looks around and sees that the town he and his wife, Susan, moved to more than 40 years ago when they were children has changed in ways Akrey doesn't like.

"Developers are getting their way all the time. I'm not sure how they do it," he said.

Akrey graduated from Newbury Park High School and married Susan, who also lived in Thousand Oaks most of her life, and they are raising four children here. He went to Moorpark College for three years but did not receive a degree, he said.

"This is a beautiful city, and I don't want it to change," Akrey said.

He would, however, like it to go back to the way it was when he was growing up. Young people had a place to go to have fun and be entertained.

"We had a bowling alley and an ice skating rink," he recalled.

Now young people don't have as much to do.

"They can't ride a bike or skateboard without getting into trouble."

He'd like to give power back to the people and find a way for people to contest the issues, he said.

Akrey said he was especially concerned about mobile home owners.

"People have a right to live where they have been living for the past 20 to 30 years," he said.