The Champaign City Council broke a deadlock Tuesday by outlawing discrimination against tenants receiving money from the government and also initiated a new phase of an agreement with Urbana, the University and the C-U MTD to improve safety in campus transportation.

Marci Dodds broke a 4-4 tie over the discrimination issue, which stalled last week when Dodds was absent from the council meeting. Previously, the law allowed landlords to refuse tenants receiving money from government-issued Section 8 vouchers.

When Dodds was chosen for her seat on the council, she said she would abstain on any issue that related to her husband, a landlord. But Dodds said in an impassioned statement that she did not want to fail to represent her district.

“To run from an issue because someone may think I can’t form my own opinion is to give power to the lazy, the cynical, and the sexist,” Dodds said. “That is unacceptable.”

The move, a heavily debated 5-4 decision, contrasted with the spirit of cooperation exhibited later in the meeting when the council voted unanimously to approve a third phase of the Campus Area Transportation Study in conjunction with other community agencies.

The first two phases of the study took place from 1997 through July 2005. The agreement was thought about until the tragic death of Sarah Channick forced an emergency convening of the study committee, Champaign Planning Director Bruce Knight said. After making some short-term recommendations to improve campus safety, Knight said, the group proposed a third phase to study the issue further.

The committee’s goals for the third phase of the study agreement are to develop a bicycle plan for the campus area, create an education program for safety awareness, study bus routes, and evaluate parking policies in the University district, Knight said.

Councilman Tom Bruno acknowledged that the changes already implemented in Champaign were tough on drivers, but said they were not the top priority near campus.

“This is a concerted effort to favor the pedestrian in that part of town,” he said.

Knight and Councilwoman Kathy Ennen both stressed the importance of bicycle routing, which they said was not a priority in previous phases of the project.

“I was a pedestrian in the campus area for a long time, and bikes were my nemesis even more than cars were,” Ennen said.

Though the third phase of the agreement had not officially been approved by all three of the other agencies, Knight said staff from each group were in favor of the project and that he was confident it would be approved.

He said another goal of the third phase of the intergovernmental agreement was to implement the changes recommended by the emergency meetings of the committee, including installing countdown signals at more campus intersections, outlawing right turns at red lights, creating a safety orientation for new students, installing pedestrian warning signs at campus entrances, rerouting certain buses to minimize turns, and redesigning dangerous intersections.

The committee also recommended lowering speed limits on campus, but the council defeated that proposal in November.