From staff reports
City officials are asking people to stay away from the sidewalk in the 300 block of Putnam Street alongside the Unitarian Universalist Church due to the danger posed by a cracked stone atop the church's bell tower.
Street department employees cordoned off the sidewalk next to the church on both Putnam and Third Street around 3 p.m. today after the crack was noticed by employees of Harrison Construction working on a nearby apartment. One lane of Putnam Street is also closed.
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Company owner Dan Harrison, a member of the church's building and grounds committee, said he has no idea what caused the crack but that it appears to be fairly recent. He estimated the portion of the approximately six-foot-tall finial stone above the crack weighs at least 120 to 125 pounds.
Harrison said he was working to determine a solution to the problem, noting a thunderstorm is forecast for the area Saturday, which could cause the stone to break.
