The Madison City Council voted down a measure to provide $250,000 in assistance to businesses on State Street and other areas in the city, according to a report from the Wisconsin State Journal.
The hotly contested decision came after a nearly eight-hour city council meeting where this measure, along with a program to help business entrepreneurs of color, was defeated in one vote as they were tied together. Opponents of the measures say the funding for State Street businesses that are mainly white-owned is “institutional racism.”
Council members expressed the desire to revisit the program to help entrepreneurs of color at a later time.
