From the Niagara Gazette:
The welcome mat is out for another tourist season but neither side of the border seems dressed up for the occasion. In fact, at a glance you have the impression neither of the cataract cities was expecting company.
For starters, Terrapin Point on Goat Island that overlooks the Horseshoe Falls is a mess. Even near the Buffalo Avenue entrance to the island, construction and warning signs are more prevalent then helpful directional markers.
Not much has changed around One Niagara either, with the overall scene reminiscent of honky-tonk atmosphere on New Jersey boardwalks. And motorists need to slow down or they’re likely to hit a flag-waving parking lot attendant trying the lure them into an all-day spot for $10. It’s hardly what a visitor should encounter at the doorstep to the nation’s oldest state park. If you listen closely, you might even hear Fredrick Law Olmsted spinning above the din.
Across the bridge — if the visitor from the U.S. is lucky enough to have a passport and some other ID — a massive redevelopment of a 9-acre Clifton Hill site is under way, set to open in 2017.