Downtown dynamo an agent of change Kate Fenske is the enthusiastic, seemingly tireless buzz behind the BIZ, working to make everyone else love heart of the city as much as she does By: Doug Speirs  Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 4, 2019

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/10/2019 (2220 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kate Fenske is in a race against time. The 39-year-old chief executive officer of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ has only four months left to tick off the last four items on the list she created eight years ago.

That would be the list of 40 things she is determined to accomplish before turning 40 on Jan. 26.

“If I get one a month done, I can actually do this,” Fenske says as she tucks into a pulled-pork sandwich and onion rings at one of her favourite downtown eateries, the White Star Diner on Kennedy Street.

Late last month, she checked off No. 36 — getting to the top of “The Chief,” the famed rock-climbing and hiking destination in Stawamus Chief Provincial Park near Squamish, B.C., that offers outdoors enthusiasts a chance to climb three separate mountain peaks.

Next to the agony of building a picnic table from scratch, it was probably the most challenging thing she has ever attempted, she says.

“It’s basically a hike straight up,” she recalls. “There are sections of stairs where it feels like you’re on a never-ending stair climber. It’s about 12 kilometres to the summit of Peak 1 and you’re just going non-stop straight up. There were ladders, there were chains you have to use. At first, I honestly didn’t think I’d get to the top.

“I could see the peak and I banged my knee, and I kind of got light-headed and I sat down and wasn’t sure if I was going to make that last scramble up to the top. Then all these very young, athletic 20-somethings came dancing out of the woods and said, ‘Are you OK, ma’am?’ I was like, ‘Oh, jeez,’ I just felt so old at that moment sitting on the rock and going, ‘Can I actually do this?’ I just said, ‘I’m going,’ and I crawled with my hands and feet up to the top. I’m not going to be the old lady just sitting on a rock.

“I don’t want to end up 90 years old wishing I’d tried more things, wishing I’d explored more places. So I just kind of go, ‘Let’s try it.’ I got to the top. I started to weep. Some of the other things on the list were fun, like eat poutine in Montreal. There was a lot of buildup for this one. I was also worried about how I was going to get down.”

That list of random challenges reveals one of Fenske’s dominant traits: she doesn’t believe in wasting time, because there are too many things she is determined to accomplish.

“If we just stick with what we know or what we like, we miss out on some amazing experiences. That’s the most important thing for me– push myself out of my comfort zone.” — Kate Fenske

“The thing I love about it is it helps me focus on how I spend my time and how I spend my money,” Fenske says. “If we just stick with what we know or what we like, we miss out on some amazing experiences. That’s the most important thing for me — push myself out of my comfort zone.”

For the record, the last four items on the list include taking a skijoring — being pulled on skis — lesson with her dog Molly, a three-year-old lab-shepherd-mastiff mix; writing a children’s book (It’s about her first dog, Kia, who escapes and has adventures with her animal friends); getting her cash debt under $5,000 (“I want to be financially in a good place in my 40s”); and, finally, tossing a pizza by hand before eating it.

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Much like her 40-before-40 bucket list, the challenges facing Winnipeg’s downtown are wide-ranging and come with varying degrees of difficulty. While trending upwards in recent years, its perceived flaws and critics are never too far away.

The most oft-spoken criticism is downtown is unsafe.

During the recent provincial election, the Tories pledged $10 million to make it safer through more foot patrols, surveillance cameras and better lighting. Shortly after winning a second majority, the Pallister government tasked the Manitoba Police Commission to find solutions to the problem. Last week, the commission began soliciting responses from the public on the issue.

It’s Fenske’s biggest goal moving forward: ensuring all Winnipeggers feel safe downtown.

“I think safety is top priority,” she says. “We can’t expect to have a vibrant, thriving downtown if people don’t feel safe. We know the people who do spend time downtown feel safe during the day. It’s about trying to make improvements in the area so we can have that vibrant downtown evenings and weekends, too.

“I feel safe downtown, but I absolutely understand that some people don’t… If we can do things to get more people and activity on the streets, that increases safety. A big thing for us is encouraging businesses to add more lighting to their buildings. Lighting increases safety and there’s a lighting grant program at the city that we’re trying to get businesses to access.

“I would love to see some more foot patrols, because we have such a large area to cover. Additional eyes and ears on the street. I have been seeing more cadets and police officers on foot this summer and I think that’s really made a difference, in terms of perception. And perception is reality. If people don’t perceive downtown to be safe, they won’t come here.”

Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, says there is little doubt Fenske will succeed on the safety front and other issues facing the downtown.

“She’s doing it in such a responsible, balanced way,” he says. “She acknowledges we have challenges in the downtown, but we also have a community with a long history of overcoming challenges.”

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On Oct. 1, Fenske marked her first year on the job at the helm of the Downtown BIZ, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary as the largest of the city’s 16 business improvement zones. She took over the CEO post when Stefano Grande stepped down after 14 years.

“I’ve had so much fun. It (her first year) flew by. It was like drinking from a fire hose,” she says. “I spent the first six months just listening and learning and trying to understand everything the BIZ has its fingers in and how we support the businesses downtown. Every single person that I talk with at the BIZ is there because they believe in downtown.”

The BIZ markets 250 blocks of the city centre on behalf of about 1,100 businesses and offers a variety of programs and services. They include the Downtown Watch Ambassadors, a 30-member group that patrols the streets in their trademark red-and-black uniforms; the Enviro Team, a 16-member crew that cleans sidewalks and bus shelters and picks up more than 5,000 bags of litter annually; and CHAT, the eight-member Community Homeless Assistance Team, which connects people living on the streets with jobs, housing and mental-health care.

As the leader of the advocacy group — “Our job is to promote, improve and beautify downtown” — Fenske is downtown Winnipeg’s No. 1 booster and one of the main people tasked with overseeing its revitalization.

Asked to define her job, the loquacious, outgoing and effusive Fenske pauses. “I’m still figuring it out,” she finally says.

“I see it as being able to pull together and lead a team of people who are so passionate about downtown, who believe that what they do matters, and to try and focus us as an organization, with the support of the (Downtown BIZ) board, on how we can make downtown a place where everyone feels welcome and where business thrives. It’s so important to create a unique experience so downtown is a destination. We don’t need to compete with the suburbs; downtown is different and unique and that’s something we need to celebrate.”

Fenske’s passion — for life, for family, for friends, for food and for the city’s beleaguered downtown — is palpable. You could call her the Queen of Downtown, but she would rather you didn’t.

“No, I wouldn’t be a fan of that (title),” she says with a laugh.

“I actually like being behind the scenes. I’d rather be seen as the connector who can help solve problems and make stuff happen downtown. I don’t even like the title CEO. When people ask me what I do, I just say I work at the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ. We’ve got an awesome team.”

While Fenske is reluctant to be in the spotlight, Remillard says she is a force to be reckoned with — from communicating her vision in the boardroom to bringing it to realization on the streets.

“Put me down as a big fan of Kate Fenske, absolutely,” says Remillard, who had worked with Fenske on the chamber board.

“Right from the get-go, (Fenske has) impressed me with her passion and dedication. She is one of the people who is going to transform our city, not just our downtown. The heart of our city is the downtown and the work she’s done in such a short time is already starting to transform downtown.”– Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce

“Right from the get-go, she’s impressed me with her passion and dedication. She is one of the people who is going to transform our city, not just our downtown. The heart of our city is the downtown and the work she’s done in such a short time is already starting to transform downtown.”

Outside the diner, Fenske — standing at the corner of Kennedy Street and Graham Avenue in a moment reminiscent of the old hat-flinging Mary Tyler Moore Show intro in downtown Minneapolis — she opens her arms wide.

“This is my favourite corner,” she says, posing for photos. “Its right around the corner from my office. I can come here for lunch and have a meeting and eat a delicious pulled-pork sandwich. You can get your nails done. I can go to the home-supply store. It’s also my morning coffee stop at Thom Bargen. Just across the street is Bison Books. And there’s this old house that buildings have been built around. You’ve got this mix of old and new. You’ve got our pop-up park on the corner. It shows the diversity of our downtown; it’s a mish-mash of everything.”

Born in Selkirk to a pair of high school-teacher parents, she didn’t set out to become the champion of downtown. Her childhood dream was to be a doctor, but it turned out science wasn’t her thing. Next up came the dream of being a journalist.

That led her to Mount Royal College in Calgary to study broadcast journalism, which led to a 10-year career in the media, starting as a radio reporter at Brandon’s CKLQ.

“I covered 9/11 with (Virgin Radio’s) Chrissy Troy. That’s the day that sticks out the most. A little radio station in Brandon and trying to make sense of all that.”

That was followed by stints producing the Big Breakfast for A-Channel in Winnipeg and CTV in Toronto, “where I had the privilege of writing for Lloyd Robertson; he brought ice cream every Friday night.”

Then, her brother in Winnipeg was about to become a father.

“I wanted to come home,” she says.

So it was back to the city for almost a decade in media relations, including stops at United Way Winnipeg, Manitoba Public Insurance and CN Rail, where she was regional manager of public affairs.

In accepting the top job at the BIZ, she had to pass on taking the post of chairwoman of the Winnipeg chamber. “I felt I could have greater impact, a more lasting impact in this role.

“I’ve always been a big (downtown) booster. When this opportunity came up, it was really the first time my personal passion came together with my career. I could work 30 hours a day doing this job. I think I found a job I would do for free.”

Despite her time in the public’s eye, there’s a lot people don’t know about Fenske. For instance, she has two dogs, the aforementioned Molly, and Reggie.

“I have nothing against cats, but I like coming home to the dogs wagging their tails,” she says. “And when you work a lot of hours it’s really nice to be forced to go for a walk.”

She’s been with the same man for 10 years — “His name is Liam and he works in politics” — but they don’t plan to get married.

“It’s not a priority for either of us. We’ve chosen to spend our lives together,” she says, confiding she was once married but divorced at 29 because they grew apart.

Then there’s that tattoo on her right ankle of a kayak with red, green and yellow paddles. Yes, a tattoo was one of the items on her list. It represents a shared love of kayaking with two friends. “We have green, yellow and red boats. We look like a stoplight.”

She doesn’t hesitate when asked to describe herself. “I’m the type of person that likes to jump at opportunities for fun. I’m a constant learner. And I love getting to know people… I’m a curious person who gets energy from learning about other people’s stories. I always try to start with being compassionate. That’s how I try to live my life.

“I feel like I’m an open book. I can recite almost the entire movie of Girls Just Want to Have Fun. It’s my favourite movie. Here’s something else, I’ve never seen Star Wars and my dad owned a video store. There’s too much of it and there’s other things I’d like to do with my life.”

Those other things include making Winnipeg’s downtown a thriving destination. One year into her job, she believes the city’s core is undergoing a modern renaissance.

“What we’re starting to see right now is a shift in more people wanting to live downtown with the number of residential towers going up. There’s 300 Main (just south of Portage and Main), which will be the tallest building in Winnipeg, and True North Centre. Downtown has a really nice mix. There’s more opportunities for people to live downtown.”– Kate Fenske

“I think there’s so much opportunity and there’s been a huge shift for the better in the last five years in terms of investment and we’re starting to see those results,” she says, pointing to the residential tower that is changing the city’s skyline at 300 Main St., and another tower rising at True North Square.

“What we’re starting to see right now is a shift in more people wanting to live downtown with the number of residential towers going up. There’s 300 Main (just south of Portage and Main), which will be the tallest building in Winnipeg, and True North Centre. Downtown has a really nice mix. There’s more opportunities for people to live downtown. Everything from luxury apartments to more affordable housing coming online.”

And the public has responded. There are more people living downtown today than ever before in Winnipeg’s history.

In the midst of the federal election, Fenske wants to see politicians of all stripes talking about a national housing strategy.

“We really need a mix of housing downtown,” she says. “There needs to be greater focus from all levels of government on support around addictions, mental health. It comes down to poverty is such a huge challenge; it’s not one group, one government that’s going to solve it. The biggest key is everyone gets around the table and we decide we’re going to invest around supports for individuals. If we don’t do that, we’re going to keep having the same challenges.”

Fenske agrees Portage Place has a vital role to play in the future of downtown, but not necessarily as a shopping mall. The sale of the building, land and parking has been approved by three levels of government, but the Toronto-based developer is still studying what to do with the property, long an informal meeting place for First Nations people and the city’s homeless.

“It’s so important we have a meeting place downtown. It could be at that site; if it’s not, we need to have that conversation about where do we need it,” she says.

“I would say a mall in the traditional sense that you would find out in the suburbs isn’t what is needed downtown. It’s really about having the shops, the business, the services, the amenities that create a community is what we need downtown.”

The future is hard to predict, but one thing is certain — you won’t find Fenske sitting still, because that is definitely not on her list.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

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