Downtown Bend restaurant target of vandals

A Bend restaurant is cleaning up the mess after it was the target of vandalism over the weekend.

It was business as usual at Drake restaurant on Tuesday, though a brown tarp covered with a piece of plywood hung outside the building.

On Saturday, Bend police said they responded to the area after someone threw an iron chair at the window, breaking the glass and causing some damage to the building.

Drake General Manager Lauren Schindel said vandalism increases during the holidays or when there is an event involving alcohol downtown.

“I heard of some businesses in the area, here and there, having issues,” Schindel said.

Back in September, the window at the downtown Starbucks was smashed, and it cost that business thousands of dollars to get it replaced.

Rod Porsche, executive director of the Downtown Bend Business Association, said they see a rise in these types of crimes during the summer.

The association has an email list so we can communicate with other businesses to warn them of recent vandalism around the area, he said.

Porsche said the association has a relationship with the Bend Police Department so they can help create a presence downtown.

He said these types of incidents are isolated and don’t happen on a regular basis.

Police said they have not made any arrests in regards to the incident.

The city of Bend does have an “exclusion zone” policy, meaning if someone commits a crime downtown, they can be barred from the area for 90 days.