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Datko: Revitalize east side

Havre City Council race, Ward 4

Karen Datko is running for Ward 4 council person against Matt Boucher in the elections underway.

If elected, she hopes to revitalize Havre’s east side, which she thinks is sometimes neglected.

Datko, 58, was raised in Pennsylvania and attended high school in Uniontown, Pa. She received her undergraduate degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania and got her master’s in journalism from Northwestern University.

Datko is the secretary of the Hill County Democratic Party and the precinct captain of precinct 10 of Hill County.

She is currently a freelance editor and writer for a financial website. She was previously the lead blogger and editor of the MSN Money website. Before that, she was the managing editor for the Havre Daily News from 2001 to 2006. She has worked as a reporter at various newspapers around the country for 30 years, including the Sante Fe New Mexican, the Bozeman Chronicle and others.

“(At the Bozeman Chronicle) I fell in love with Montana and hoped for an opportunity to return,” Datko said. “My job allows me to work anywhere in the world, and I chose to live here.”

Datko said her family consists of two dogs.

When asked what she hopes to accomplish if she is elected Ward 4 councilperson, Datko said, “one of the reasons I’m running is I’ve wondered, along with others, if the people living in the east end of Havre are getting their fair share from the city.”

Datko said if she was elected, she would make sure that the people living in the east end of Havre got their fair share.

“The infrastructure (in the east end) doesn’t seem as well-maintained as other parts of the city,” Datko said. “Maybe we do, but there is a very widespread perception in the east end of town that that isn’t the case.”

Datko said that, while she has been campaigning, people mostly have asked her about the infrastructure of Havre.

“We have an aging infrastructure,” Datko said. “Some of the (water) lines are ancient and need to be replaced. We need to not only fix the roads, but what’s under them”

Datko mentioned that Mayor Tim Solomon’s capital improvement plan was a good step in the right direction.

Datko said that she would focus on reviving the east end.

“There are too many vacant, dilapidated structures on the east end, and something needs to be done about that,” Datko said.

She also said that she would like to see more community involvement in the working of government and City Council meetings. She said people have complained about the city council meetings because there is very little discussion and they don’t know what council members are voting on when the council talks of the items on their agendas.

“It would be nice to have some discussion,” Datko said. “Also, I think it would be nice to stream the council meeting on the city website. Let’s use some of that technology.”

 
 

Reader Comments(7)

2smart4u writes:

That's the spirit, Joe. Take the low road.

joe writes:

I guess I am voting democrat for council OSmartone. There is not a republican running in my ward. Go ahead and vote for Datko...................you democrats deserve another nut on the council to advance your views

2smart4u writes:

East End Revitalization has its roots in the Don Driscoll administration. As usual, Joe is showing is obvious partisan leanings shilling for his little buddy, Bob Rice. Bob could care less about the East End. In the eight years he was mayor, he did absolutely nothing for it, except take the East Ender's tax dollars and use it for the South End, his political cronies, and a skateboard park. Does this mean Joe is going to vote Democrat, he cares so much about my side of town?

NONONO writes:

Anybody but Karen Datko. Has everyone forgotten her twisted views when she held the job of degrading everyone in town during her newspaper days? East Enders unite and vote no to this back-east Peta loving liberal

Pete writes:

People trying to get their fair share is why we are in the mess we are in. What ever happened to contributing your fair share? Something for nothing is all you liberal socialists think about. Ms. Datko is the last thing Havre needs on the council. I don't know how to break this to you Karen but we are all in this together

Joe writes:

Rice was talking about focusing on revitalizing the eastend also. I wonder if Datko is voting for rice?

WOW writes:

Datko says “Mayor Tim Solomon’s capital improvement plan was a good step in the right direction.” Oh really? Mayor Solomon did not come up with that idea. The State and the Feds require Cities to have a Capital Improvement Plan to apply for grants and other money. By the way didn’t the City just pay a bunch of money for the engineers to draft that plan for us too? So way to go Karen and Tim for taking credit for something normally done!!

 
 
 
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