HALIFAX -- Three weeks after post-tropical storm Dorian there's still a major problem hanging over Halifax.

Despite a lot of talk about taking it down, the toppled crane is still perilously perched on a building under construction, and that's leaving some people's lives up in the air.

Workers continued Monday to stabilize the crane, which collapsed onto the building on South Park Street at the height of post-tropical storm Dorian on Sept. 7.

The Department of Transportation says once the crane is safely secured, work to dismantle it will start, but there's no definite timeline as to when that will happen.

Nearby businesses are hoping the crane comes down soon. 

"We're a university city and a lot of the students don't even know we're open, so that's kind of frustrating," said Sabrina O'Neill, the manager at Humani-T Café.

With a portion of South Park Street closed, the cafe says foot traffic is down.

"It's definitely been a long three weeks and it's gonna be a long couple more weeks once it's removed," O'Neill said. "It's refreshing to see that they're finally doing something to it, other than just taking pictures and arguing in a room together."

Although they're not as busy as usual, some new customers are popping in to help show their support.

"I saw an Instagram post that the restaurant was doing about a quarter of their sales and I know that really hurts small businesses," said Amy Harrison. "It was a nice day, I work nearby, so I took a walk and decided to support a local business."

Some Haligonians are surprised to see the crane hasn't been moved yet.

"I feel really bad for all the businesses along here certainly and I don't understand the physics of it enough to know how long it's been taking, but I was expecting it to be gone by now certainly," said Heather Simmons.

The crane site continues attracting curious onlookers every day.

"Just seeing how it's sort of collapsed completely over the building, and the fact that it didn't hit any of those balconies in this adjacent building is, you know, kind of amazing," said Sian Morris Ross.

There is no timeline for when the crane will start to be removed.

The province says the safety of its workers and residents is their first priority.

The labour department's inspection into the incident is still ongoing.