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Let鈥檚 set the scene:

鈥� It鈥檚 late 2000 and early 2001, and Slay, the president of the Board of Aldermen, is running for mayor. Among his campaign themes? Make St. 香港三级片 a great city again.

鈥� The Rev. Larry Rice is making headlines talking about the gnawing problem of downtown homelessness.

鈥� Black protesters are marching and demonstrating downtown outside police headquarters, complaining about racism and police brutality.

鈥� Slay is backing a proposal by the St. 香港三级片 Cardinals to build a new stadium and adjacent entertainment and office development called Ballpark Village. The Cardinals are seeking millions of dollars in public subsidy. The Blues are lining up behind them for help with the Savvis Center.

鈥� Meanwhile, Slay cuts a deal with affordable housing and health care advocates to put a new business sales tax called a 鈥渦se tax鈥� on the April ballot.

鈥淭his is all about improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods,鈥� Slay says.

Fast forward to 2016, and the longest-serving mayor in the city鈥檚 history is going out the way he came in.

On Wednesday, Slay鈥檚 staff unveiled a plan to seek a half-cent sales tax increase on the April ballot to help in a MetroLink line, specifically a long-planned northside-southside route that is listed as a key to improving racial equity and job opportunity in the Ferguson Commission report. Slay has made developing the route a priority in his last year in office. Slay is also asking the Board of Aldermen to put a proposal on the ballot to spend an increase in the use tax 鈥� it automatically goes up if the sales tax does 鈥� on a downtown stadium proposed by the ownership group SC STL.

The mayor insists the two proposals should be seen as separate, and to the extent that the MetroLink tax could pass while the soccer proposal fails, that is true. But here, some timeless wisdom from former Washington University professor , the renowned environmentalist who died in 2012, offers context.

Commoner鈥檚 first law of ecology was that everything is connected to everything else.

A month ago, Slay told me he planned to put a parking tax on the April ballot to pay for the MetroLink expansion. That was before the SC STL crew 鈥� including World Wide Technology鈥檚 Jim Kavanaugh and former Anheuser-Busch executive Dave Peacock 鈥� announced their intention to seek a subsidy for a downtown soccer stadium just west of Union Station. Behind the scenes, the soccer group and the mayor met several times to hammer out an agreement.

The final plan isn鈥檛 where they started 鈥� and it properly allows the MetroLink proposal to stand on its own 鈥� but to say they鈥檙e disconnected ignores the context that led to Alderman Christine Ingrassia that could lead to one or both of the proposals being voted on in April.

The MetroLink and soccer stadium proposals aren鈥檛 just connected in 2016, they can鈥檛 be separated from the events of the election that first elevated Slay to power.

Slay鈥檚 chief of staff in 2001 was Jeff Rainford, and it was Rainford who took the lead on gaining support for the Cardinals鈥� subsidy. Rainford is now a consultant, and he was directly involved in the sometimes heated SC STL negotiations with the mayor鈥檚 office. And the use tax wouldn鈥檛 even be available as an avenue to raise money for a soccer stadium if Slay hadn鈥檛 asked voters a year into his first term to expand the ability of the city to apply use tax proceeds to other purposes.

That tax, Slay says, 鈥渉as done more than we ever anticipated.鈥�

But its purpose has morphed over the years. The original use tax was about serving St. 香港三级片ans 鈥渋n the most need,鈥� to borrow Slay鈥檚 words from 16 years ago. Voters agreed to spend half the money on affordable housing, with much of the money dedicated to people living below poverty. It was to preserve neighborhoods and reduce homelessness. The rest of the money was to prop up the city鈥檚 health care services for the poor, known as ConnectCare.

Three years ago, ConnectCare filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors. Other programs have taken over, but some of the city鈥檚 health outcomes for people in poverty haven鈥檛 changed much.

Homeless strategies have adapted but the problems persist.

Neighborhood preservation is still a big problem 鈥� an ignored one, several aldermen say 鈥� and it鈥檚 part of Slay鈥檚 rallying cry for the MetroLink tax proposal.

鈥淭his is about changing our city and providing opportunity in underserved neighborhoods,鈥� Slay said in an interview Thursday.

Ask Slay if he made St. 香港三级片 great in his four terms and he鈥檚 quick with a response.

鈥淪t. 香港三级片 is a great city,鈥� the mayor says. But if a MetroLink expansion happens? 鈥淭his will make St. 香港三级片 greater.鈥�

That judgment will be made long after Slay is gone and another mayor 鈥� or several of them 鈥� tackle some of the same issues that have been plaguing St. 香港三级片 for decades.

In April, as Slay鈥檚 tenure comes to an end, St. 香港三级片 voters will likely face a decision that could change the landscape in St. 香港三级片 for decades.

Whether they see the two votes as a connection to stale strategies of the past, or a new path forged on the tracks of previous success, will determine the outcome.