Morton Povman (born 1931) was a Democratic member of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

, representing the 15th district and later the 24th district of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, which included Forest Hills,

Rego Park Rego Park is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. Rego Park is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, to the east and south by Forest Hills, and to the west by Middle Village. Rego Park's boundaries include Queens ...

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

, Briarwood, Kew Gardens Hills and Fresh Meadows. He served in this position from 1971, when he succeeded

Donald Manes Donald R. Manes (, ; January 18, 1934 – March 13, 1986) was a Democratic Party politician from New York City. He served as borough president of the New York City borough of Queens from 1971 until just before his suicide while under suspicion ...

until he was retirement due to term limits in 2001.He married Sandra and ended up having 2 kids, Michael and Bruce. Born in Brooklyn to Russian Jewish immigrants, he graduated

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brookly ...

in 1955 and set up his law office in Forest Hills. Prior to public office, Povman served as assistant counsel to State Assemblyman

Moses M. Weinstein Moses M. Weinstein (July 8, 1912 – November 30, 2007) was an American lawyer and politician. Name He was born Morris Weinstein without a middle initial. A playbill for a production at Brooklyn College added erroneously the middle initial, and ...

. When Manes was elected Queens Borough President, the Queens Democratic Party Organization chose Povman to fill the Council seat. At the time, he was a District Leader active in local politics. In 1973, Povman won election to the seat. As Councilman, Povman served as chairman of the Rules Committee and later the Health Committee. A defender of

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...

, Povman fought plans to build high-rise apartments near Willow Lake and a racetrack around Meadow Lake. However, he supported the expansion of the National Tennis Center in the park in the late 1980s.

Sources

"Povman Elected To City Council: Queens Democratic Leader Is Given Manes's Seat" ''New York Times'' September 24, 1971 1931 births Living people New York City Council members Politicians from Queens, New York Brooklyn Law School alumni Jewish American people in New York (state) politics 21st-century American Jews {{NewYork-politician-stub