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Peter Crummey speaks to young people just after retaking Colonie town supervisor post for GOP

Peter Crummey was the Crossings for a Thursday lunch with 60 students from Colonie-area schools, part of a regularly scheduled meeting of the North Colonie Youth Advisory Council.
WAMC photo by Dave Lucas
Peter Crummey was the Crossings for a Thursday lunch with 60 students from Colonie-area schools, part of a regularly scheduled meeting of the North Colonie Youth Advisory Council.

In his first event since Election Day, incoming Republican Colonie town supervisor Peter Crummey spoke Thursday with a group of young students. First, he sat down with WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief Dave Lucas.

Crummey was the Crossings for lunch with 60 students from Colonie-area schools, part of a regularly scheduled meeting of the North Colonie Youth Advisory Council. He had been invited about a month ago.

“They wrote to me and asked if I would come be their guest presenter for today," Crummey said. "So here we are today. And it's a very active group, they have some lunch, and they get to socialize amongst themselves as students in Colonie, but also talk about relevant issues to them and to the community.”

Crummey's parents settled in the Albany suburb more than 70 years ago.

“I believe that, you know, a sustainable town begins with a vibrant economy," said Crummey. "And I look forward to having, extending, the opportunities in our town that I received from my parents who moved here in 1950. And I was able to live here, raised my five children here, and I believe sustainability means an eye on the future and how we plan to care for our town today so that other people and families can enjoy the same town of Colonie.”

During his talk, Crummey discussed his political career: 21 years as a judge and eight years as a county legislator, 41 years total in a variety of leadership capacities.

“And as a judge, I would routinely be in the classrooms, I was asked to come lecture to the students about the legal system and the justice system. I eventually instituted an award for a teacher in Colonie that helped me bring knowledge of the courtroom into the classroom," Crummey said. "And I would annually present the gavel award in that way, to facilitate a little extra on civics and talking about real life court system and the legal system. And I did that for the town library as well, where I filmed 64 TV shows, under the title ‘Benchmark,’ and I would interview judges and lawyers, and those involved in the legal system for the town library. And then they would post them on Vimeo. And there's about 30 up there. And they would also put other ones out on a DVD for circulation as well.”

Fresh off his victory over Democrat Kelly Mateja to replace seven-term Democrat Paula Mahan, Crummey says his priorities as supervisor include strong public safety, road repairs and connectivity.

“We need to boost the cell service in the south part of town where we are, on Albany Shaker Road right now, all the way down to the Albany line. It's spotty at best. It's gotten worse over the years," said Crummey. "And I even recently, I've had the chief of the Shaker Road Fire Department, Shaker Road Loudonville fire department contact me and say, ‘Peter, it's a public safety issue now.’ because people are calling them for assistance and the phones dropping routinely, it needs to be fixed. I'm going to get to the bottom of why not only it's a problem, but why it's gotten worse.”

Crummey noted that the 84,000-resident Albany County town has a spot in the top 25 busiest criminal courts in the state of New York.

“But as you and I speak today, on this, on this weekday, there's 240,000 people in our town," he said. "They work here, they play here, they shop here. And as a result, our emergency medical services, and our police, we’re responding to a quarter million people on a routine basis as opposed to merely those who live here. But with big challenges, comes big decisions for someone to make. And I believe that the voters did the right thing, by electing me by such a wide margin to be the steward of town hall.”

Crummey says residents can count on him.

“I appreciate their faith in me and their trust in me," he said. "And each day I wake up I want to continue to earn that trust, and I will work with my full capacity to do just that.”

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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