Madison City Council signed off on the new Gordon Commons and adopted a resolution declaring Madison a Fair Trade city at their meeting Tuesday night.
The City Council’s approval of the new Gordon Commons was the final step toward making the project official.
“The project represents a significant development of a new dining facility for Southeast area residents,” Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8 said. “Long term, it comes with a new open space in the campus core downtown that is greatly needed.”
The new facility will be built on the current empty space next to Gordon Commons. A larger open space will then be developed where the current building is.
Another change to the dining hall includes removing the connecting bridge to the Witte dormitory, Eagon said. The entrance to Witte will be steered more toward Johnson Street to promote pedestrian traffic there instead of across Lake Street.
“[The project] is a positive development,” Eagon said. “It’s a new state of the art facility with needed improvements and more open space.”
The City Council also passed a resolution that designated Madison a Fair Trade city, recognizing the efforts of Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group’s Fair Trade Committee.
Madison has now become the 16th Fair Trade City in the country. WISPIRG’s Fair Trade Committee has been working with city members for over two years to make the resolution a reality, UW sophomore and committee member Erica Symonds said.
“The passage of the resolution pinpoints Madison as a leader in Fair Trade business,” Symonds said.
The resolution encourages city businesses to purchase Fair Trade products like coffee, tea and sugar. Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the eventual goal is to move from encouraging city businesses to requiring Fair Trade product purchase by law.
Although the resolution also encourages private businesses to purchase Fair Trade products, Verveer said the focus is to make city establishments, like the Monona Terrace and the Overture Center, Fair Trade businesses.
In a letter to the council, the WISPIRG Committee said the use of Fair Trade products aids poor farmers in developing countries by providing a marketplace for their goods in Madison.
Verveer said the resolution follows the “sweatshop-free” trend UW has been working toward. He added the resolution complements Chancellor Biddy Martin’s Friday announcement ending the university’s relationship with Nike.
The Fair Trade organization only associates with “sweatshop free” work places. According to the letter, the organization is a viable option for businesses that does not exploit people or the environment.
Verveer said the concept is nothing new to the city, as over 20 local businesses currently sell Fair Trade products. The resolution the WISPIRG Committee lobbied for is a step toward transforming Madison into more of a Fair Trade city.
There may be some monetary impact on city agencies as they consider Fair Trade products, but the overall impact is likely small, the resolution said.
Becoming a Fair Trade business helps provide a fair living wage for producers and healthy labor conditions, Symonds said.
