Community Board 8 district manager launches second bid for Queens council seat

Community Board 8 District Manager Marie Adam-Ovide is one of nine candidates running in Council District 27. Photo courtesy of the campaign

By David Brand

A veteran Queens community board district manager says her experience in public service and public schools sets her apart from the growing field of candidates to replace Councilmember I. Daneek Miller in Southeast Queens.

Marie Adam-Ovide, the district manager for Community Board 8 since 2007, announced her candidacy for the 27th Council District on Friday, eight years after first running for a seat in an adjacent district.

“During these difficult times for our city and borough, I am running to fight for our seniors, to create opportunities for our families, and promote a better future for our youth,” Adam-Ovide said.

She is one of nine candidates who have filed to represent Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village, and Springfield Gardens. Miller is term-limited at the end of 2021.

In 2013, she ran in the special election for Council District 31 after former Councilmember James Sanders moved to the state Senate. Donovan Richards, now Queens borough president, won that race.

Adam-Ovide immigrated to the United States from Haiti and attended Tilden High School before graduating from Brooklyn College. She moved to Queens in 1995 and raised three children, each of whom attended public schools where Adam-Ovide served on the Parent Teacher Association.

For years, Adam-Ovide and her family cared for foster children while she worked for Councilmember Sheldon Leffler and then-Councilmember David Weprin.

She rolled out a handful of endorsements Friday, including support from former Community Board 8 Chairperson Alvin Warshaviak.

“She has an unbelievable ability to listen to everybody and come up with a consensus solutions for all problems,” Warshaviak said. 

The eight other candidates include attorney and nonprofit founder Kerryanne Burke; Assistant New York Attorney General Jason Clark; Community Board 12 chairperson Rene Hill; community organizer James Johnson; Al-Hassan Kanu, former Queens liaison for the public advocate; NYC Test and Trace Corps campaign manager Harold Miller; military veteran Timothy Turane; and Nantasha Williams, the executive director of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus.