I READ the interview with James Alexander (The Press, April 9) with sympathy – he is obviously a man of character.

This quality has become obvious in the Lendal Bridge affair.

As usual, there were people who did not think that a trial was necessary and that their ideas were best without being tested.

However, a city like York cannot be run on people’s opinions.

Mr Alexander thought that a trial was necessary and now he has taken into account the consequences of that trial.

I hope that he does not feel at all defeated.

Running a city for people like me to live in is not about winning and losing or “having your way or not having your way”, it is about listening to sense and facts and not the opinions of either friends or opponents.

Philip Johnson, Greencliffe Drive, Clifton, York.