Downtown Bend drinking fountains to be removed

Four broken drinking fountains in downtown Bend will be removed starting Nov. 30, and that’s brought a mix of reaction – including some who hadn’t noticed they were even there.

The Downtown Bend Business Association asked the city to repair the broken fountains earlier this year. The city looked into whether fixing the fountains would be the best option, but decided the costs are too high.

Bend Economic Development Director Carolyn Eagan said Thursday there are two issues: “One, they weren’t installed the way that we wanted them to be installed; two, the maintenance costs were only to increase over time.”

The four fountains were installed in the ’80s during a project to improve downtown.

The city said it doesn’t keep track of how much water is used through the fountains. Officials are asking businesses if they even want new water fountains.

“I think the goal is to really figure out what the best amenity is for downtown,” Eagan said.

The city says it is looking at options about what could replace the fountains. Some ideas would be adding benches or more bike racks.

Downtown visitor Shila Parris said more bike racks would be a great idea, since Bend is known as a biking town.

“I think bike racks is a way better idea,” she said. “Way more people are down here on bikes. No one uses water fountains in downtown.”

But not everyone agrees with having more bike racks downtown. Some want the fountains to stay.

“I think it’s fine as it is as a water fountain,” said Travis Myrick. “There are bike racks in every corner that you look, and most of them are not populated.”

The city plans to wait until after winter to decide whether to replace the fountains with benches or bike racks.