I ENDORSE the letter describing York as a "slum" city (September 6). I visited Durham this summer and the contrast with York was startling.

One problem seems to be that one rarely sees police on the beat in York thereby doing little to control yobbish behaviour and graffiti.

City cleaning seems to be half-hearted at best.

The state of some parts of the city is an insult to your visitors - tourism is, after all, of major economic importance to the city.

I have never seen so much discarded fast food on the streets as I saw in York. This could be a public health problem.

My own city in the US has an area population of 100 000, more than one million tourists a year and a university with more than 20,000 students - nevertheless it strikingly cleaner and tidier than York.

In the very busy downtown area the police are conspicuous both on bicycles and on foot.

York needs better policing and greatly improved street cleaning. Remember, litter seems to attract litter.

Paul Dee,

1st Street,

Charlottesville,

Virginia, USA.

Updated: 09:21 Saturday, September 14, 2002