Just a minor clarification to your point. In "industry" towns like the Bay Area, Detroit, and Chicago - corporations are definitely the powerful non-state actor

Just a minor clarification to your point. In "industry" towns like the Bay Area, Detroit, and Chicago - corporations are definitely the powerful non-state actors. Outside of those though, their are many cities of considerable size where local developers hold the most sway. These local developers behave and are motivated by different things then the mega corps.