A month after firing longtime City Manager Russell Allen, the Raleigh City Council might be having trouble agreeing on a short-term successor to lead City Hall after Allen leaves on June 30.

With the search for a permanent replacement expected to take up to six months, Raleigh leaders must appoint an interim manager this month. In the past week, the council has spent hours in two closed-door meetings to discuss the appointment.

Councilman Randy Stagner said last week that he'd like to see an interim appointed this week, but Tuesday's closed session ended with Mayor Nancy McFarlane announcing "no decision was made," and no more meetings are scheduled until next Tuesday. Stagner says it's important to have a transition period where the interim learns the ropes from Allen.

Last week, the council got a presentation from two UNC School of Government professors who explained the pros and cons of interim manager choices. The council, they said, could hire an interim from outside the city -- a retired city manager, for example. Or they could promote from within city hall.

Should they pick the latter option, a few possibilities come to mind (though no candidates have been named by the council). City Hall's second-in-command is Dan Howe, the assistant city manager. There's also veteran City Attorney Tom McCormick, who applied for the manager post when Allen was hired 12 years ago. He left the room during Tuesday's closed session.

But during the meeting with the government professors, city council members worried that an interim might have trouble returning to their old job after six months in charge. With that concern in mind, they might consider former assistant city manager Julian Prosser, who retired last year after 32 years with the city. He was recently brought back as a part-time sustainability consultant.

All that, of course, is just speculation on my part. We'll know for sure once the council reaches a consensus; they'll have to take an official vote on the hire in open session.

Three weeks after firing longtime city manager Russell Allen, the Raleigh City Council will begin its search for his replacement on Tuesday.

The council will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday for a presentation by the UNC School of Government about how the selection process might work.

With the exception of Councilman John Odom, who served when Allen was appointed in 2001, the process is a new one for current council members.

This month, the council will need to select an interim city manager to take over when Allen leaves June 30. They'll also decide whether to bring in a national search firm to help recruit candidates, Mayor Nancy McFarlane said recently.

McFarlane says the council hasn't yet decided whether finalists' names will be made public, as was the case when the city sought a new police chief earlier this year. In that search, the top candidates came to Raleigh for a public forum before the hire was made.

"I’m very interested in the public’s input," McFarlane said, but "I don’t want to exclude anyone who may be interested in coming but has not told anyone where they (currently work)."

Another look at plans for Raleigh's Union Station is set for Wednesday, with architects releasing an updated set of drawings for the $60 million train station in downtown's Warehouse District.

The public meeting starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Contemporary Art Museum, 409 W. Martin St. Architects and transportation officials will give a presentation, then seek feedback on the designs for the old Dillon Supply building's transformation later this decade.

Raleigh transportation planners will also be on hand to discuss related downtown street projects. One is the proposed extension of West Street where it dead ends at the tracks, a measure to provide better access to the new station. The other project is a plan to convert parts of Lenoir and South streets to two-way traffic.

Raleigh City Councilman Russ Stephenson was all alone at the council table Wednesday evening.

Stephenson was chairing a meeting of the council’s comprehensive planning committee, which holds hearings on new developments. More than two hours in, the other two committee members – Councilmen Bonner Gaylord and Randy Stagner – had to leave the meeting.

That meant the meeting no longer had a quorum, but with no votes to be taken, Stephenson kept discussions going on a shopping center planned for Leesville and Strickland roads in Northwest Raleigh.

The reason for the one-man meeting? Planning director Mitchell Silver wanted to hear the presentation on the development – he lives nearby – but he can’t attend a special committee meeting Monday. That’s when all the councilmen will return to decide the fate of the project.

“We’re just trying to get through enough information that Mitchell can ask his questions,” Stephenson explained to confused developers.

My story today explained plans for a "Raleigh Beach" that would offer sand, pools and summer fun on a West Hargett Street site near downtown Raleigh.

If the plans go forward, it wouldn't be the first "Raleigh Beach." That name was given years ago to a once popular swimming hole on the Neuse River, just below the Milburnie Dam east of the city limits.

Land around the site is now owned by the city for a future Milburnie Park. The park won't be developed soon, but it's an access point for the Neuse River Greenway trail that officially opened Thursday. One of the streets nearby is still called Raleigh Beach Road.

A 1990 News & Observer detailed Raleigh Beach's colorful history:

"All I know about Raleigh Beach is terrible things, " rails Elsie L. Seymore, a silver-haired woman in a pink sun dress out collecting butterbeans at a friend's home near the river. "Murders and illegitimate children. Terrible things."

The beach made headlines occasionally for murders, drownings and drunkenness, but it remained popular.

"There used to be a sand bar down there, " says Ms. Seymore, who has lived near the swimming hole for most of her life. "People in Raleigh who couldn't get to the beach but could afford gas up here used to come with their children. Then it got into all kinds of things."

Skinny-dipping and casting for catfish used to be the main attractions of the wide pool below the dam. N.W. Poole, 67, who runs a well-drilling business on Old Milburnie Road, remembers people getting religion in the same waters that served as a kind of "lover's lane."

"I seen blacks and whites down there baptizing their people, " he says. "I'd be sittin' on the big rock peepin' at 'em. The place was covered in violets."

But Mr. Poole says the river contains "suck-holes" that pulled some swimmers to their deaths. And Mrs. Seymore says visitors took to hard drinking. Twenty years ago Mr. Twiggs, then owner of the land, began blocking off the roads to the beach. The sand bar washed away. But people still sneaked in.

A frequently absent member of Raleigh’s Civil Service Commission was reappointed for another term Tuesday.

Cheryl Grissom was up for renewal on the board, which hears appeals of employee grievances such as firings. The board recently came under fire from a union group that points out that at every meeting but one, at least one commission member was absent.

Since the commission’s rules require support from at least four of seven commissioners to overturn a personnel decision, the union says poor attendance puts workers at a disadvantage. The union wants the city to reinstate fired sanitation worker Shirley Venable, who got support from a majority of commissioners at her hearing but still fell two votes short.

Before reappointing Grissom, Councilwoman Mary-Ann Baldwin asked about her attendance record. City clerks described it as “good”; Grissom has missed only one hearing in the past two years, they said.

But minutes from the commission’s meetings show that Grissom missed three out of seven meetings since April 2011. Since 2007, Grissom missed six of 17 sessions, according to the minutes. She and commissioner Wilbert “Tramp” Dunn have been the most frequently absent members of the board, minutes show.

The Raleigh City Council plans to review the set-up of the commission in the coming months.

A 1929 home in the Hayes-Barton neighborhood could be the latest addition to the Raleigh Historic Landmark registry.

The John E. Beaman House sits at the corner of White Oak Road and Beechridge Road, a few blocks east of Glenwood Avenue. Beaman was a commercial building contractor who built the Georgian Revival home for his family.

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources will evaluate the house’s historical significance ahead of a public hearing set for May 7.

The city has 151 designated Raleigh Historic Landmarks.

An opinion poll released Tuesday found that Wake County residents support plans for a park on the Dorothea Dix property by a 2-to-1 margin.

Public Policy Polling surveyed about 600 voters last week in the wake of Republican-sponsored legislation that would revoke Raleigh's lease on the 325-acre state property. The bill passed the Senate last week and now heads to the House.

About 52 percent of those surveyed said they support the park, while 27 percent were against the idea.

Park supporters have argued that revoking the three-month-old lease signed by outgoing Gov. Bev Perdue and Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane will damage the state's credibility in future contracts.

About 50 percent of poll respondents agreed that the bill would "harm the state’s business reputation"; 38 percent say they don't think so.

The poll also found that the majority of Republicans surveyed didn't support the legislation.

Two park booster groups, Dix 306 and Friends of Dorothea Dix Park, held a meeting Tuesday at the Dix property to discuss the poll. About 50 people turned out in support.

"It was impressive the awareness of people that we might make this property a park," said Bill Padgett of Dix 306. "By 2-to-1 we ask the governor to veto that bill."

Raleigh City Councilman Russ Stephenson also attended the meeting, and he told the crowd he's hopeful that the House will debate the bill more thoroughly than the Senate. "I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll have more time in the House," he said.

Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane announced Monday that Councilman Thomas Crowder will be absent from upcoming meetings as he battles testicular cancer.

The mayor read a prepared statement from Crowder, who says his prognosis is good and his doctors expect a full recovery. But a rigorous treatment will force him to miss many council meetings, including two this week.

"His commitment to the city and constituents remain the same," McFarlane said, adding that Crowder hopes to be back full-time by July.

Crowder has represented District D (Southwest Raleigh) since 2005. Our best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.

Following the success of Hillsborough Street's recent overhaul, the Raleigh City Council voted April 1 to fund similar streetscape improvements on the Interstate 440 Beltline.

The $936.2 million project, set to begin construction in 2021, will narrow the six-lane freeway to one lane in each direction. The other lanes will be converted into tree-lined sidewalks and bike lanes while leaving room for buses on the shoulder.

"The Beltline has an outdated design that's increasingly at odds with our plans for a walkable, multi-modal urban core," Mayor Nancy McFarlane said.

Councilman Russ Stephenson said he's particularly excited about the new Beltline. "Imagine going to Crabtree Valley Mall, then taking a leisurely stroll across Glenwood Avenue and down the Beltline to eat at North Hills," he said, adding that residents could also enjoy sidewalk dining at the 73 new mixed-use apartment developments fronting I-440.

Those apartment complexes, which each have a mandatory rooftop community garden and backyard cottage, are encouraged under Raleigh's new development code.

The plan also takes aim at the Beltline's unattractive overpasses and exit ramps. Those will be demolished and replaced with five-lane roundabouts. "We think this innovative new design will be quite popular with drivers once they've read our 300-page handbook," transportation planning manager Eric Lamb said.

The ambitious project will likely be funded by a proposed 10 percent sales tax increase, but the council is also considering state-of-the-art tolling gantries, which would automatically deduct $20 from the driver's savings account. "They'll use open source software, putting Raleigh on the cutting edge of highway tolling," tweeted Councilman Bonner Gaylord.

More improvements are planned for the decades and centuries to come. Phase two of the plan calls for a light rail line through the Beltline's median and a Yonkers Road "destination park" on the current site of the Men's Club.