Plato said "This city is what it is because our citizens are what they are", to imply that the people within the city or town are the ones who dictate what happens in the city, not the city itself. St. Louis falls into this category because cities were once the focal point of the national agenda and presidents sought to increase the city's importance and amenities. This was done in St. Louis with the program creation, unions, and attention that the World's Fair brought to make St. Louis one of the best cities of the early 20th century. However, as suburbanization was occurring, the nation's attention was on the growing middle class and the suburbs. St. Louis was affected by suburbanization as its population declined and so did its amenities. This has been demonstrated from the late 20th century to the present day, where the local economy has collapsed and racial issues have increased. Suburbanization and major transportation problems have been attributed to the fall of St. Louis.St. Louis is a city located in Missouri on the Mississippi River; This feature has been essential to St. Louis' growth as a major city in the United States, and it celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2014. St. Louis has an independent government, meaning the city is not located in any county with there are only two cities like this and the other one is Baltimore. Since St. Louis is independent, there are no districts and this means there is usually one service for the entire city, such as the fire department. Furthermore, this means that there are many full-time officials within the city and not many volunteers or low-paid officials (David Stokes 2011). The city elects 11 executive positions and 28 aldermen through the ward system. These... middle of the paper... are forms coming soon. Prop R was passed in November 2012, this reform was more similar to the 1957 reform to eliminate the number of departments from 24 to 14 (Richard Bose 2014). This time there wasn't as much opposition against the reform, there is more of a positive aspect that St. Louis should implement new reforms for the city. There was also a recent reform called "Take back St. Louis", this reform would make St. Louis greener since the city is unable to offer incentives to companies and companies that received more than $1 billion in revenue is not allowed to have a tax break (Jason Rosenbaum 2014). This reform is currently still in court to decide whether it will be allowed or not. After 1950 St. Louis changed further than before 1950 and even more during the 2000s to move away from machine politics and to bring more equality.