Police investigating after vandals strike Albany restaurant

A local restaurant’s general manager awoke to a shocking video from her boss Saturday morning. It shows two vandals smashing the planters outside Rosanna’s restaurant on Spring and Dove Streets in Albany.

In security footage, vandals are seen running across Spring Street, then knocking over and stomping on two of the planters. The owner says the planters are custom-made and worth $5,000. Cipollari tells NewsChannel 13 they want to be a source of beauty and community for the area.

The restaurant changed hands and reopened in 2020 and struggled even this winter as the Omicron variant kept people home. General Manager Victoria Cipollari said this incident filled her eyes with tears. She believes it is totally random and not related to anything that happened at the restaurant.

This is the second instance of violence toward a business in the Capital Region that we’ve reported in three days. While NewsChannel 13 was outside Rosanna’s another local tenant told us they, too, were the victim of vandalism last weekend. Police said they could not tell us if the pair caught on video were connected to any other crimes in the area.

Albany Police confirmed to NewsChannel 13 that they are investigating. Rosanna’s owner tells NewsChannel 13 the vandals left a crucial piece of identifying evidence at the scene. Police would not confirm this, but said they are actively investigating who is responsible. If you have any information, contact Albany Police.

Rosanna’s is closed Monday evening, and opens Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.