Interviewing York

Previous problems voiced by traders and residents had been:

• Traders in Newgate market felt neglected by the council
• Parliament Street ‘robbing’ local market’s footfall
• Lendal bridge’s closure confusing to visitors
• Worry that council’s plans are aimed ONLY to improve visitor’s experience.
• Overpriced parking charges
• York’s streets are unclean and dirty.

Looking back at some previous problems that went unanswered, I decided to have another session of communicating with the users of York. This time, I was more prepared and brought along a list of questions to be asked in order to get a clearer picture. Me and Carey approached people in the train station and then also people in the streets of York. I used my phone to record the conversations as not to interrupt the flow of conversation and make the interviews more pleasant experience. In all the interviews we introduced ourselves as part of York St. John University and explained this was a project to find issues within York. All interviewees are anonymous.

Transcripts of more formal conversations from a range of people in the city Centre of York; Consists of conversations from elderly couples, residents or visitors, long term visitors and also first time visitors.   

Elderly couple living in York. Man and woman with a dog. They were travelling to London for a few days and waiting on a bench in York Station.

Me: “Do you find York clean?”

Woman: “No, not at all. We been to Holland… that is absolutely spotless. Much better organised than York. Theres too much traffic signs to tell you what to do. In the Netherlands, you are much more left to your own devices. Street furniture. To many street furniture. There would be four or five road signs one after another, and then a tree covering some more signs…..Waste a lot of money on signs, social services with King’s Square. Five hundred thousand for that.”

Man: “Instead of putting up a platform for the entertainer, they’ve ripped up all the cobbles.”

Woman: “it’s been in the national paper(telegraph) there was a disabled woman and she said ‘there’s no need to take away the cobbles. All they had to do was put somewhere through where you could get a wheelchair through. They obviously got the money to spend it, you know.”

Me: “I heard that they (council) have three million over the next ten years.”

Woman: “I think that the money could be better spent.”

Me: “Where would you like that money to be spent?”

Woman: “Well coming out of York. It’s always spent on things to improve for the visitors. They say King’s square. They put it up so they can perform. Now I’m personally not interested in the performers. I’d much prefer it so that York can organise themselves better. Better bus service, bus station. Re-organise around here. If you park your car around here and collect everybody, its atrocious; you can take half an hour getting out of the carpark…..It’s much tidier and neater in Harrogate, nice flower beds done and very smart. Very smart in Harrogate, York does'nt have that smartness.”

Me: “There are a lot of things to see in York though”

“Yes, yes there are a lot of things to see in York. But that is tourist isn't it? There's no point going if you live here. We moved here threee years ago, and I thought it would be absolutely wonderful go to to York shopping. And now I don't go anymore.”

Me: “Well, when you first came, initially you liked it?”

Woman: “Well, I went a few times and thought it was a waste of time. There's so many tourists and all they interested in is the tourist thing. They have a coffee, go to the dungeons, go to castle museum and they off again. Here are people who eventually, like us, or who can't drive, have to rely on the bus. Now I can't catch a bus to get to clifton moor. Now I can't even catch a bus to go to Morrisons or waitrose. I can't get a bus from home to the hospital. I have to get off at the theatre and then get to the hospital and I only live in the Mound.”

Me: “Can you think of any solutions then? What would you like the council to do?”

Woman: “I would like them to provide a bus station, a proper bus station and reorganise the traffic around her, around the station. Stop all this 'you get off the bus and wait for the bus drivers'. Cos there's no proper organised buss station. If you want people to stop coming in by car, you need to provide a good bus service. Instead of have these 61 seater buses when there are 4 people, have a lot of little minibuses running around the town.

They don't have public meetings. If they have public meetings, they already decided that this is labour conservative policy and whatever you say if it was a twenty million to one. That one person would still vote because its government policy today.

Like the other week, nothing to do with practicality. If you're coming in from the city theres a sign up saying 'Cyclists please dismount'. So i'm walking down there and there's a gentleman coming to wards me on a bike. I say to him 'Do you mind dismounting?'. I was being ever so nice. I said it asks you to dismount. But he wouldn't do. It asks you to dismount by the Minster but they don't do. They go through the red lights, it doesn't apply to them.

They allow foreign people to come along and sell their wares and sort of pushing Newgate market sort of out, so people don't go to it. They should be promoting something local. We're trying to get Britain on the map not Germany, France or anywhere else. We want to get Britain on the map. You feel like you're at the bottom of the pile, very much so. Andthey seem to take more notice of somebody whos a comer-in and the locals. People put up with it for so long and then...'.it is cruel' (man)”