Citing a toxic blue-green algae bloom, the city this afternoon closed Green Lake to “wading, swimming and “wet-water boating” activities like sailboarding.

Parks officials issued a special caution to dog owners not to even let dogs drink from the lake, citing the presence of a cyanobacterial toxin in amounts far exceeding the Washington Department of Health’s draft recreational guidelines.

“Rather than risk the health of any park user, we’re closing the lake to some activities until we have confirmation that the water is safe,” said Christopher Williams, acting parks superintendent. “The level of toxicity leads us to err on the side of caution to limit the risk of anyone ingesting the water.”

The lake is open to fishing and boating - activities in which users are unlikely to ingest the water. The closure will be in effect until the algae bloom has completed its life cycle. This could be weeks or months, depending on the fall weather and how it affects the algae in the lake.

The driver of the car that killed a man last month on 15th Avenue Northeast just south of the bridge over Thornton Creek has been charged with drunken driving and felony hit and run, according to King County prosecutors.

In a post earlier this week we reported that prosecutors said no charges had been yet been filed. That turned out to be erroneous - the next day a prosecutor’s spokesman said he had missed them at first, but that the charges were filed Aug. 8, with the suspect’s first court date on Aug. 22.

According to the court charges, Erik Steven Terpstra, 24, was charged with driving while under the influence and with hit and run - felony. He refused to perform field sobriety tests, the police report states, but according to the charging papers his blood alcohol level was later found to be almost three times the legal limit.

He remains in jail with bail set at $500,000. His next court date is Oct. 25, prosecutors say.

A police report filed with the court indicates that a witness saw the victim, illuminated by streetlights, sitting with his legs crossed in the middle of the southbound lane of 15th Avenue shortly before 2 a.m. on Aug. 5.

The witness tried to warn the victim that he was in danger, but he “would not respond,” the police report states.

According to the report, the witness “felt uneasy about (the victim’s) state of mind, so he pulled a short distance away, turned on his four-way flashers, and called 911.”

But as he was on the phone with an emergency operator, he saw a black Infiniti Q45 strike the victim at an estimated 60-70 mph, according to the police report. The airbags deployed in the Infiniti, but it did not slow down or stop, the report states.

Officers arriving on the scene found the Infiniti about a mile away, in the 2700 block of N.E. 98th Street. The driver was standing outside, and told police his airbags suddenly inflated, according to the report. A passenger in the car told officers she saw something in the road at the time of the impact - she believed it was a bag about 2 1/2 feet tall, the report states.

The driver, who gave a Woodinville address, was initially jailed for investigation of vehicular homicide and investigation of hit and run.

Karen emails us overnight:

I found a sweet little orange kitten at Latona and 85th street on Friday late evening. She is not wild or feral. She does not have a collar, but she seems to be missing her home. Call me at 206-819-5339 if this is your kitten.

The children’s play area at Maple Leaf Playground is about to get a serious makeover.

Starting this week, construction fences will go up at the park as work begins to build the new Maple Leaf Family Terrace, which will be part of the new Maple Leaf Reservoir Park.

Donna Hartmann-Miller, who heads Friends for a Greater Maple Leaf Park, writes on the committee’s Facebook page that construction could take from four to seven months, but that the new play area should be ready for kids to return by next spring.

Take a look at what you can expect to see at the new Family Terrace, and here is more general information about upcoming work at the park.

UPDATE: In an email newsletter (which you can sign up for on the Community Council website), Hartmann-Miller notes a few nearby playgrounds for parents to visit while Maple Leaf Playground is under construction:

The Art Tile showroom on Roosevelt Way Northeast wrote this afternoon:

ATTENTION:

Between 12 noon and 12:20 p.m. today an Art Tile Co. employee’s car was broken into while parked on the west side of Roosevelt just north of Art Tile between Northeast 85th & 86th streets. They broke out the right-hand window and stole a backpack. Yes this was in the middle of the day. BE ALERT FOR SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY!

A little earlier Shelley wrote:

Hi Maple Leaf Blog. I was wondering if you could post this for me. We haven’t seen our cat Molly for a week and are getting worried. She’s the lighter cat on the bottom of this picture. Unfortunately she won’t keep a collar on so doesn’t have one right now. If anyone has seen her in the last few days, please let me know. Thanks!!!

Shelley lives at 12th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 89th Street. She can be reached at 206-351-4938.

Update 7 p.m.: Shelley writes:

I would like to thank the kind person who found Molly after she was hit by a car and rushed her to the vet to try and save her. He posted signs which I finally saw today and he called the vet to check up on her. If it wasn’t for him I would never have known what happened to her.

Finally, Nic emails to ask if we know what authorities have decided to do about the driver of a hit-and-run car that struck a man on 15th Avenue Northeast on Aug. 5.

According to police, witnesses said they saw the 32-year-old man sitting in the road about 2 a.m. According to a press release, the driver was jailed for investigation of vehicular homicide and investigation of hit and run.

Nic said a memorial has been established at the scene, just south of the bridge over Thornton Creek.

Other than your coverage at the time and the follow-up comments I cannot find anything about what happened (at the time and after the driver was charged) in any other news source. This is a block from my house and seven blocks from my office and I walk my dogs by the shrine every day.

No charges have yet been filed, according to the King County Prosecutor’s office, and a police spokesman said complex accidents investigated by the traffic department can often take several months to complete and forward to prosecutors. This investigation is still ongoing, he said.

Don’t forget about the Northgate Station open house tomorrow, which is your opportunity to learn about the light-rail station that is opening up at the current Northgate Transit Center in 2021.

The event is from 6-8 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Olympic View Elementary School cafeteria, 504 NE 95th St., with the presentation set to begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a short Q-and-A and time to browse informational charts and speak with experts.

Expect to hear more about construction, which is scheduled to begin in 2013, construction noise, nighttime work and proposed truck hauling routes.

For more information, contact Rhonda Dixon at 206-398-5300 or [email protected], or visit Sound Transit’s North Link website.

This post courtesy of our sister site Queen Anne View.

Thanks to a tweet from our neighbors in West Seattle, we were alerted to an upcoming library closure. Mark your calendars, all Seattle Public Library branches will be closed next Thursday, September 27^th for a staff in-service day. Plan accordingly!

Update Sept. 22: Our news partners The Seattle Times has updated its story.

Seattle police have arrested a 30 29-year-old man living less than a mile from where Yancy Noll was killed in an apparent
road-rage shooting.
Thanks, Thor and Mike, for the tips.
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/09/suspect-arrested-road-rage-slaying-of-yancy-noll/

For a year we’ve been trying to figure out what’s happening with the Italian Spaghetti House, just across from Maple Leaf at 9824 Lake City Way N.E.

David Miller, president of the Maple Leaf Community Council Executive Board, shares this tidbit in an email to the Maple Leaf Business Subcommittee (which you can sign up for here):

Some of you may have noticed the remodeling going on at the site of the former Italian Spaghetti House restaurant. According to Seattle Department of Planning and Development, indications are a liquor store will be going in at this location. We’ve notified Wedgwood (the site is in their neighborhood boundaries). We’d appreciate your thoughts on this. We’re looking into the code, but we doubt there is anything we could do about this even if the neighborhood reached consensus something needed to be done…

What are your thoughts on a liquor store replacing the Italian Spaghetti House?

The next stop by the Crafty Caravan is a bit outside of Maple Leaf, at the Wayward Coffeehouse at 6417 Roosevelt Way N.E., but you’ll still be supporting the ‘hood if you stop by: One of the members of the group of traveling crafters is Maple Leaf-based This Charming Candy.

Stop by the Wayward Coffeehouse from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 20 (tomorrow!) or Oct. 18 to check out This Charming Candy’s gourmet lollipops along with other crafts including gemstone and vintage jewelry, silk screened T-shirts and bags, collage art, paper goods and watercolor vegetable portraits.

We added our 2 cents that the Caravan should pull up at one of our Maple Leaf cafe’s sometime, so we’ll keep you posted when and if that happens.

Kasey emails:

Hi Maple Leaf Neighbors ~ I am hoping you can help find Freddy. He was last seen on Saturday morning September 15th, near Northeast 96th Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast.

Freddy is very shy and hesitant. I am hoping for any “sightings” so I can head his way. Freddy is micro-chipped. Many of you have been on the lookout, I appreciate it - and so does Freddy

Scott tells us that a string of dispensary break-ins from Ballard to Green Lake ended at 6 this morning at MMJ Co-op, 8251 Lake City Way. He tells us:

Evidently, the burglars didn’t get away with much, but did manage to do a lot of property damage and create enough noise to warrant a call and get units to the scene. It didn’t help when the perps were pulled over at Lake City Way and 15th Ave NE with evidence in the car.

It was the end of a long string of early-morning break-ins of other dispensaries that started in Ballard and Green Lake. Chalk it up to greed or exhaustion, but Maple Leaf was the end of line to a posse of petty thieves. As it was said at the scene a few times “It’s not the smart ones that get caught”.

The owners of MMJ Co-op are cleaning up, and it will be open and business as usual.

After just over a year at 9220 Roosevelt Way N.E., maoStudios has left Maple Leaf and is reportedly back at is former Green Lake location.

The space is now for lease, adding to a glut of empty spaces in the north end of Maple Leaf, including the recent departure of Glassique from 9634 Roosevelt Way N.E., which is one of three spaces for lease in that development.

In the two days since we last passed along crime reports from neighbors, we’ve had two additional reports from Maple Leaf.

Overnight, Erin emails:

I’m a reader of your blog and a neighbor. Someone just tried break into my house near 8th Avenue Northeast on Northeast 91st Streeet this evening but I was home, so they ran once they figured that out. I know there was a recent burglary around here, so I wanted to let you know about this attempt. I didn’t see the person - they ran once I looked outside. The police were called.

Thank you for creating a neat online space for the neighborhood. We can check on local events and crime watch all in the same spot.

Earlier Thursday, Susan wrote:

This past weekend, the Vista Point Apartments (8320 Lake City Way N.E.) became another victim in the long list of recent burglaries. I don’t know all the particulars, but know a lawn mower was stolen, as well as one car in the parking garage was broken into and a garage door opener was taken (presumably so they could return at a later date).

A little more police presence seems to be needed in Maple Leaf. I’m starting to get afraid to even walk the dog anymore!

This reminds us of a comment one neighbor made last March, calling a spate of prowlers “rats creeping on our great neighborhood.”