I do love seeing our blue bridge lit up at night, especially when flying down I-196. And it is a good idea to have "trendy" stores on the river, or something where people can head towards the river area and be entertained (like all the new proposals I suppose).
In reflection, I had a good time a few weeks ago just sitting on the grass in front of the Ford, down near the river. There were 3 of us, and we were all shocked that, apart from the carriage rides, we were the only one's down there, just sitting there, at about 3:00 on a Sunday afternoon, just relaxing. Now Festival was going on, but we thought that more people would have been there b/c of that. It was rather surprising how many people won't leave their air-conditioning anymore to travel outside.
Plus side - we saw quite a few families checking out the statues, so that was cool.