[FireBeyond]

And yet the commercial property developers in my town (a state capital) are perennially among the richest people in the town, and are all best friends with the planning commissioners that supposedly oversee them (as in regularly on Facebook at social and school events and hanging out and vacationing together).

You make it sound like they're barely scraping by and so the reason there's no amenities is that the local planners give them no option but to use every square foot for "maximizing value".