Elitism, snobbery from the Elk Grove Mayor, her city council and city hall big wigs

Below is letter sent yesterday to Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, city councilmembers Rod Brewer, Sergio Robles, Kevin Spease and Darren Suen, and city manager Jason Behrmann. The video below suggests that Councilmember Spease did not attend the Macy's grand opening.

The italicized portion of the letter was not included in yesterday's correspondence. 

Good afternoon Jason,

Hope this finds you well.

I'm writing to express my curiosity about the city's extensive promotion of Macy's. A reader shared the city's social media post promoting their grand opening.

Conversely, why did the city not promote the opening of the second Ross Dress For Less Store when they commenced operation about a mile away from an existing store?

As you can see from the chart below, Ross's stock has outperformed Macy's, implying their more favorable long-term prospects. Ross equity has increased 49.5 percent to Macy's 5.5 percent in the last five years. Worse yet, Nordstrom's stock has tanked 24 percent in the same period.

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The city should be betting on retailers like Ross, Walmart, Home Depot, and Target, which cater to the needs of most local consumers. They are the true retail engines of future city sales tax revenues.

Given the challenges facing traditional department stores like Macy's, Ross has better prospects. It is noteworthy that the city listed Ross among the top 25 sales tax producers on page 29 (pdf  page number) the annual budget.  

Nordstrom and Macy's may reach the top 25 in a few years, but the prospects for department store-type retailers like them are dimming with each passing year.  

Could this promotion be an effort to present a more upscale version of the city that distorts the reality of our populace? Or is Ross just too low-brow for the city hall bigwigs?

While the city dismisses low-end retailers, and by extension, the residents patronizing them, suggesting a sense of elitism and snobbery, sales numbers don't lie. If Elk Grove continues to rely on sales tax revenues, it should remember the low-end, high-dollar volume retailers and their customers - not that those retailers need the city's help - because they are the proven engines that fund city operations.  

D.A. Gougherty