Downgrade Possible for Cities in Illinois & Missouri

A government proposal could massively effect cities in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa.

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According to an article from the Associated Press (to see the article for yourself click here!) there is a proposal that would downgrade cities under 100 thousand people from obtaining the "metropolitan" status and instead call these cities between 50 thousand and 100 thousand in population "micropolitan" cities. In the article they say...

"Under the new proposal, a metro area would have to have at least 100,000 people in its core city to count as an MSA, double the 50,000-person threshold that has been in place for the past 70 years...If the proposal is approved, it could be the first step toward federal programs adjusting their population thresholds when it comes to distributing money to communities, leading to funding losses for the former metro areas...Rural communities are concerned that more micropolitan areas would increase competition for federal funding targeting rural areas."

This proposal would strip away "metropolitan" designation to Jefferson City, Joplin, Cape Girardeau, and St. Joseph in Missouri, in Illinois it would impact Kankakee, Danville, Decatur, and Carbondale, lastly for Iowa it would strip away the metro title from Ames and Dubuque.

It is a fascinating idea, because lets be honest a city like Cape Girardeau having the same designation and classification as New York City makes little to no sense, and while the article states this proposal is just a classification change and will NOT directly effect funding, obviously its the start of what could be a slippery slope towards that. I agree with 100 thousand being the correct cutoff for the threshold, but I can see how cities would be fearful of being called "micropolitan" areas when trying to attract businesses, developments, tourism, and so on. But on the flipside having this unique classification for these couple hundred very unique cities in America that live between the 50 thousand and 100 thousand population mark could be a rallying cry for them, and also help them brand themselves as something different, and set a different standards of expectations. What are your thoughts on the proposed downgrading?