I think the bigger deal was not having an event coordinator in place to work alongside and then replace Dawn. The Independence Day event takes a lot of planning a year or more in advance.
I agree that the construction would make it hard to have the whole celebration downtown but there are alternatives that could work in a pinch for a year or two.... Como Park, Keysa Park, local school grounds, etc. None of them are perfect but the change could've highlighted all the wonderful work going on downtown.
It also brings up the issue of moving forward with events in downtown after the construction is done. After attending a couple of meetings with the designers it doesn't appear that space for community events was a priority and not figured into the mix. I suppose, other than July 4th, are any other events big enough to warrant the space needed?
All in all, you can count me in with the others that will miss the family friendly atmosphere of the carnival...
Matt