A Little Excitement Downtown

Yesterday the East entrance to my building was shut down after an incident with a crane. Across the street from Bank One Plaza, a new building slated to house the law firm Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood is quickly going up. Since last spring, a large crane has been assisting in the construction. It appears as if someone moved the crane a little too close to the Bank One building:

Bank One employees were stunned when a wayward piece from a tower crane snapped and smashed into their 22nd-floor conference room window at Bank One Plaza in the Loop on Wednesday morning.

None of the bank's Finance Department employees were hurt when the steel "gusset"--an object measuring 3 inches by 10 inches and weighing 3 pounds--shattered the glass inward about 10:18 a.m., said Chris Kozicki, deputy commissioner of the Chicago Buildings Department. The gusset plummeted to the ground and struck a vehicle on Dearborn Street. No one was injured.

I learned of the incident on the way to lunch when catching an elevator on the West side of the building took excruciatingly long due to the shutdown of the East side. Rumors were flying. My first thought was, I sure hope it wasn't a disgruntled ex-employee of the bank flown off the handle...

(PS: It wasn't me.)