Meetings and events
Next Community Meeting - Monday 11th May, 18.00 - 19.00 Hrs. Venue - St. Olave's Church Hall
Summer social Community Notice Board Marygate Car Park Gardens
Date TBA Install Notice Board near the underpass Create a garden area with fruit trees
Join us at our Summer Social
Investigate options to make the exit to the Scarborough Bridge Ramp more safe
Working with the Council we would like to investigation options around making the exit t from the Scarborough Bridge ramp safter for everyone to use.
Options to consider:-
* Repaint the STOP sign on the tarmac
* Repaint the STOP sign on the tarmac and add a STOP sign
* Clear the vegetation to the bottom left of the ramp to create a clear line of sight for those exiting the ramp
* Install a staggered barrier to the bottom of the ramp to ensure cyclists slow down before exiting
* Redirect the cyclists to use the alternate ramp to the right as the exit into Marygate Car Park
Adopt the BT Phonebox on Margate
Our plan - with the help of the Council - is to adopt the BT Phonebox next to St. Mary's Tower on Marygate. The aim is to provide a place to locate a Defibrilator close the Bootham - the next closest is outside St. Olave's Church Hall - and to provide an Book Swap facility.
Once the phone box is adopted, the Bootham South Residents Association will take over the maintenance and upkeep of the box. along with the defibrilator. We also plan to contact the shops, pubs, restaurants along Bootham for some buy-in to the project.
Proposed Mural for Railway Underpass
Bootham South Residents Association
Description
The railway underpass in question passes beneath the York to Scarborough railway line and runs between Marygate Lane and the junction of Bootham Terrace, Sycamore Place and Longfield Terrace. It is a well-used pedestrian and cycle route between the area of York north and west of the railway line and the city centre and is one of the main access paths to St Peter’s School from the city centre and the railway station. It lies along or close to the route of a Roman road1 and is part of ‘York’s Longest Snicket’2. Figure 1: Location Plan The underpass itself is of a plain roughly rectangular cross section. It is a brick structure and although originally painted in a whitish colour, as a result of the overpainting of repeated graffiti it is now something of a patchwork. The south western wall has two inset luminaires both of which have been partly obscured by graffiti and stickers. As has been said above the underpass is subjected to frequent graffiti affecting both its visual amenity and also public safety as a result of reduced illumination by the obstructed luminaires. The area is also subject to some other anti-social behaviour and drug dealing.
Proposal
The ‘Broken Window’ theory suggests that the presence of low level anti-social behaviours such as littering and graffiti in an area engender increasingly serious criminal behaviour. Conversely, steps taken to reduce vandalism result in reductions in crime generally. One way of reducing graffiti is by the use of murals in public spaces prone to defacement. This has been relatively successful including in York on the railway bridges at Love Lane (over the East Coast main line) and over the York to Scarborough line near York District Hospital. It is therefore proposed that a suitable mural is commissioned for the railway underpass.
Design
It is suggested that because of the location, on or near the course of a Roman road and also as there seems to be no other significant public street art reflecting Yorks Roman history that an appropriate subject would be a marching legion similar to that shown in Figure 4 (on a railway bridge in Manchester). This could represent the IX Legion who are said to have marched north out of York and disappeared. As well as improving the local environment and hopefully reducing vandalism, this could also become an attraction for visitors to the city.
