I always get ticked at these kind of articles, and they exist in every city in the world. They ignore what is actually going on, and focus on what hasn't happened.
Look at what is happening in Ottawa right now:
We just finished building a new Convention Centre
We're about to embark on a major new project for the arts: the New Arts court
Landsdowne Live is going to happen, FOL lawsuits notwithstanding
LeBreton Flats is finally getting rebuilt, albeit at a glacial pace
The Museum of Nature just finished a major renovation
We're on the verge of starting the LRT project.
The city archives building has just been built.
Both universities and Algonquin are expanding.
and coming up, we've got a new bridge over the Ottawa to finally get the traffic off King Edward, we've got the air base coming up for a massive redevelopment.
But, yeah, we're not building the city.
For cripes sake, what do we have to do to impress people? Build a glass dome over the city?