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Thursday, November 17, 2022
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State Street retains local culture, atmosphere despite rise in commercial chains By Marin Rosen STAFF WRITER
As more and more commercial chains open in downtown Madison, residents and University of Wisconsin-Madison students question storefronts’ impacts on the overall culture and atmosphere of the historical State Street. “I am from LA, where Studs is a massive thing. I would go at home to get piercings, and it was always a super fun place,” said UW student Sophia Goldberg. “In my honest opinion, though, it is the most random thing to open on State Street. Why do we need Studs? I also can’t lie, I got a piercing the day it opened for fun.” Aside from Studs, a number of commercial chains are setting up shop on State Street, including Jamba Juice and
“State Street and Capitol Square business areas are organic, always changing with the times” Jason Ilstrup President of Downtown Madison Inc.
Auntie Anne’s. Historically, State Street is known for its diverse, locally-owned retail shops and restaurants. Yet, some locals are nervous about how these chains
will impact local and family-owned businesses as well as the historical ambiance of downtown. “I think that the culture of State Street is heavily dependent on the locality of the businesses. That’s what gives it its appeal — it’s a place where you can go that showcases all the different places and opportunities that Madison has to offer,” Madison local Abbi Adams said. “My personal fear is that some day, rather than the historic street full of really cool vibes and local culture, we’re just going to have another copy-and-paste road that you could find anywhere else in the world.” UW-Madison student Remy Rigby is among those who are not against the corporatization of State Street. “I think the chains on State Street don’t directly impact the culture, but I think the further away you get from State and away from campus are the areas that truly feel the need for family-owned businesses,” Rigby said. Jason Ilstrup, president of Downtown Madison Inc., has a different perspective on the matter. He said that despite these fears, the number of locally-owned businesses downtown and on State Street has actually risen in the past few years. “The data clearly shows State Street and the Capitol Square business have remained, and continue to remain, domi-
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nantly locally owned,” Ilstrup said. Since 2018, the number of locally owned businesses on State Street and around Capitol Square has risen from 80% to 82%, according to a 2022 Downtown Madison Inc. report. Since the pandemic, there has been an increase in pedestrian traffic in the area which has resulted in an increase in locallyowned businesses. The number of vacant storefronts decreased from 54 to 40 in October 2022. “State Street and Capitol Square business areas are organic, always changing
with the times,” Ilstrup said. “There are constantly new shops, restaurants and attractions coming and going from the area. These changes give downtown life and bring more people downtown, all in the search of something new.” UW students and Madison residents can expect additional cool, interesting changes to the downtown area in upcoming years, Ilstrup said. “An ever-changing downtown is a more interesting downtown,” Illstrup added. Editor’s note: Sophia Goldberg has written for the Life & Style desk at The Daily Cardinal.
ASM, other UW schools discontinue plan for shared student governance body By Sophia Ross STAFF WRITER
An attempt made by the University of WisconsinMadison’s Associated Students of Madison (ASM) to improve the shared governance body across the UW system failed to pass Monday. This long awaited
decision came over a year after the legislation was originally approved through the Wisconsin State Statute. The legislation was originally supported last fall by UW-Madison’s ASM, alongside the student governments at UW-Eau Claire, UW-River
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Falls and UW-Stevens Point. It was proposed in an effort to create a space where all the UW schools could communicate and discuss issues universal across all the campuses. “The main ability of the UW system student government association (UWS SGA) was that it would unite to lobby the state Legislature on student issues,” which ranged from issues such as “mental health, expansion of shared governance, etc,” ASM Legislative Affairs Committee Chair Muralidharan Govindarajan said. However, a recent ASM press release revealed “the UW-Milwaukee Student Association failed to ratify the UWS SGA Constitution,” and “eight other UW student governments met and decided to discontinue action towards the UWS SGA.” Govindarajan went on to explain how the multiple stu-
dent governments, including UW-Madison’s ASM, initially felt that while there were small degrees of problems, the issues were not significant enough to restart the entire project. He described the thought process behind the ultimate decision to explore other shared student governance options. “There were some problems with the UWS SGA, which we verbally agreed to fix after the organization was ratified and created,” Govindarajan said. “However, UW-Milwaukee voiced an opinion that they would rather restart the process and fix the problems at the start rather than later on.” “After more discussion, all eight schools voted unanimously to end the UWS SGA, and restart the process with a new drafted constitution,” continued Govindarajan. Despite this decision made by UW schools, Govindarajan noted ASM has no desire of giving up
on a plan for shared governance. “There is now a draft in the works that has more input and collaboration than the previous draft ever had,” Govindarajan said, mentioning that this new draft is building on past errors. ASM’s goal of a shared student governance plan has not wavered. With the collaboration of the other seven student government groups, they hope it will remain a possibility and lead to an expansion on topics. “The new and old shared governance body will address issues affecting all/most of the universities, such as mental health, expansion of shared governance, possibility of affordable housing, etc.,” Govindarajan explained. An open meeting will be held on Dec. 2 to decide on the first draft of the new plan of shared governance. Students and faculty members are encouraged to come.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”