Yeah I guess Lovejoy is the postal area and school district and Brooklyn is the town.
I agree that elected officials could have done more. Perhaps the prospect of having industry within their bounds was attractive.
In East St. Louis' case, it is just surrounded by company towns that just happen to have much looser regulations than once did the City of East Saint itself.
Sauget, Alorton, National City --- all company towns, all companies that polluted and bore no responsibility for the messes they left in East St. Louis.