Earlier quoted context omitted.
The other half of this is that with declining enrollment city school districts are finding themselves with a lot of land. They don't feel any pressure to sell the land. Nor do they feel any pressure to use it for other government services.
In Chicago at least land use and closing of schools is extremely contentious. The areas losing the most students are also the areas that have historically been underserved or down right biased against by local governments. So when it becomes time to consolidate schools it falls disproportionately on poor neighborhoods, which at the very least looks a lot like punishing the victims. So there is a lot of community push…
Sure there's some pressure but as you note it comes from the communities that couldn't stop their school from being closed. So ultimately it's a lot of noise that doesn't lead to much action.