Here's my dream, and some of us have been working on it for years. When many Fargoans think of sand, we think of sandbags. That needs to change. We all realize the first order of business is to protect Fargo. I believe it's vital to also protect our revitalized downtown that is ripe for more mixed use development. We can leverage this downtown flood protection as a catalyst for development and fun and it can serve as a way to recruit and retain people and businesses by making Fargo not only safe, but much more fun!
Welcome to "Fargo, life's a Beach!" Wouldn't it be cool as you stroll the plaza on top of the protection eating a walleye on a stick from a small local shop that's one of many along the way on top looking over an expanded river front. The first thing that strikes you is a sandy beach with swimsuit clad Fargoans enjoying the sun and playing around a 3 - 4 acre swimming lake (like the artificial beaches within a beach at many resorts in Hawaii and Carribean or Paris Plage in France) between the river and the protection plaza. The large granule sand would be collected in early fall and stored for the next summer season. Everything on the riverside of protection would be "wash and wear" hose it down and get ready for fun in the sun!
In the winter, the lake could be used for skating and snow could be shaped to create a half pipe for snowboarding (this snowboard park portion is a recent graduate from NDSU architecture students idea, he has a great powerpoint)

It's also important to back away and give the river more room and to relieve stress on the riverbank. Second street could be moved back from the river about 2/3 into the Civic Parking lot, it could be merged with 3rd St in front of the Library and Civic Plaza and inside the protection underneath the plaza.

During community events the street could be closed to cars and opened up for a street party.