The advocates for a major urban park on Dix Hill have been strictly informal since retired executive Greg Poole pulled them together last year.

But this month they filed paperwork with the state to become a charitable organization for "the support of acquisition, development, conservation, maintenance and operation of public parkland in Wake County."

Despite their unofficial status, the group has already accomplished a lot. They raised $150,000 to hire a planner from St. Louis and an attorney from Chicago to draw up a proposal for the park.

They also paid for a DVD with interviews of Raleigh philanthropist Assad Meymandi, Wachovia President Ken Thompson and Duke Energy executive Ruth Shaw.

And they've hired LargeMouth Communications, based in Research Triangle Park, to do public relations. (The Friends of Dorothea Dix Park, meantime, has hired French West Vaughan of Raleigh.)

If the Dorothea Dix mental hospital campus becomes a major urban park, Poole hopes the Dix Visionaries will end up playing a role much like the Central Park Conservancy, managing and developing the land for public use.

HOPES DIM FOR END OF CARY COUNCIL STANDOFF: Without a verifiable miracle, the Cary Town Council will not fill its vacant seventh seat before the fall elections.

Mayor Ernie McAlister said in an interview this week that he "talked through all the options" with all but one of the council members and could not find a way to get four of the six council members together. He said he will continue to look for a compromise, but did not hold out much hope.

The council is divided 3-3 over candidates Dick Domann and Erv Portman. The seat has been vacant since Mike Joyce resigned in July from the council.

A few council members have suggested breaking the months-old standoff with a coin flip, but McAlister rejected that. He says he wants to make sure that any new appointee will bring back the four-person "conservative majority" that existed when Joyce sat on the council.

"I think anyone who can count to four would understand my reluctance in allowing this situation to change the balance of council," he said.

POLITICAL TRAIL

•WESTERN WAKE DEMOCRATIC CLUB: The Western Wake Democratic Club will meet 2 p.m. Sunday to finish a draft of the club's bylaws. The meeting will be in the conference room of the Eva Perry Regional Library, 2100 Shepherd's Vineyard Drive, Apex.

The current draft is posted on www.WesternWakeDems.org. Members are asked to review and send comments to wwd@wakedems. org.

•WAKE YOUNG REPUBLICANS: The Wake Young Republicans will host Phil Kirk, former president of the N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry at its meeting on Monday, Feb. 12. Kirk will discuss the wine industry and its impact on North Carolina's economy.

Duplin Winery will offer a wine tasting before the meeting,which will be 7 p.m. at Moonlight Pizza, 615 West Morgan St., Raleigh. Dinner, which costs $8, and the wine tasting begins at 6:30 p.m. RSVP by Feb. 8 to wakeyr@gmail.com. Visit www.wakeyr.com for more information about the Wake County Young Republicans.

ON THE RECORD

"If we were worried about the potential bogeyman of influence, then we would just not do anything."

-- Rep. Jennifer Weiss, co-chair of the task force on the future of Dix Hill, after member Barbara Goodmon, a civic activist, said she feared that home builders and real estate agents would lobby the legislature to develop the 300-acre property.