Kevin Bronner Jr. was appointed to the Planning Board in February. By day, the Christian Brothers Academy and UAlbany grad is a managing director at Park Strategies, a consulting, lobbying and regulatory affairs company, and is an adjunct professor at the UAlbany Rockefeller College of Public Affairs. He resides in Loudonville.
Q: The Planning Board is often thought of as a thankless job, with its members charged with balancing interests that are not often aligned. How do you remain fair to the developer/landowner and the residents a project may impact?
A: When asked if I would accept an appointment to the Planning Board, town Supervisor Crummey stressed that trying to seek compromise and bring fairness with my decision making is an important value. I try best to use the experience gained from my time working at Park Strategies on behalf of a diverse set of clients and in the state Legislature which included managing contentions issues amongst various constituency groups and trying to reach an amicable solution for all those involved. This includes approaching each project applicant with an open mind and taking any concerns expressed by interested parties seriously. One of the key things in government is compromise and I often encourage developers and landowners, along with the town Planning Department, to speak to one another in an effort to resolve conflicts in good faith. Some conflicts are complex to resolve due to the difference in the interest of the parties. The Planning Board has the duty, however, to make tough decisions where we must weigh the law and fairness to the applicant, the concerns expressed by residents and other interested parties and finally what is in the best interest of the town. The hope is by critically analyzing and questioning all the information presented by applicants, the town and interested parties with concerns, we can encourage compromise and reach an amicable solution that appeases all parties.
Q: In many ways, Colonie is still a small hometown, trying to hold onto its agricultural roots. But, over the past few decades, it has become the Capital District’s downtown where hundreds come to work and shop every day. As a Planning Board member, what is your vision for the town 10 years from now?
A: Having grown up in the town and living here for most of my 41 years, our town’s agricultural roots are something I still look fondly upon. We have seen these family farms age out over the years and once the land is sold, it is developed for other nonagricultural purposes. This is especially the case in the Latham area but we do see it in other pockets of the town as well such as Albany Shaker Road. Ten years from now, I would like to see many of the aging commercial properties that are largely dormant be redeveloped and modernized into successful commercial or residential uses in appropriate cases. We are seeing this take place in Menands, the Route 5 corridor and West Albany. The Town of Colonie is always known for having great residential neighborhoods, a strong commercial tax base to help make it an affordable place to live and wonderful parks that town residents can utilize. My vision is to continue seeing this in the future. I believe the current Supervisor Crummey will help lead us there.
Q: Your father, Kevin Bronner Sr., was a Town Board member for years so you have been around politics for a long time. How has it changed over the years? Is it for the better or worse?
A: Yes, I have been in politics a long time and I am pleased to get back involved governmentally and serve in the energetic administration of Supervisor Crummey. Politics is constantly changing and one of the changes over years I have noticed is how big a role technology plays in framing political debate and political outreach. Technology has allowed for politicians and political groups to have unprecedented access to reaching members of the general public. It also allows for the public to have unprecedented opportunity to communicate with and express views to political candidates. There are positives and negatives to this, but overall, it allows for more citizen engagement and avenues for holding the government accountable and I believe that is always a good thing.
Q: You have worked for the Senate Finance Committee through seven budget cycles and now as a governmental consultant for one of the largest lobbying firms in the state. Being on the inside of such a massive entity as New York state, how do you describe the “state of the state” to your students?
A: I like to describe the state of the state as challenged right now. There are always major challenges a state government faces, whether it be economic challenges or social challenges, but even more so in recent years with the pandemic and the government response to it. I encourage the students who are looking to be public administrators to critically analyze government policy and use cost benefit analysis to determine the best course of action. This includes not just analyzing programmatic data but also the political outcomes associated with a policy. New York is very complex and government programs can impact different parts of the state very differently.
Q: Is there a politician — active or retired, alive or dead — you admire most and if you were to have lunch, what would you talk about?
A: This is a very interesting question. The easy answer is my father, but I can eat lunch with him all the time. So a very distant second would probably be former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and I would mostly talk about the military wars and conflicts he was directly involved with and how he would deal with the contentious geo-political conflicts we are seeing today.
