Elk Grove Urged to Offer Christmas Shopping Incentive

After awarding hundreds of thousands of dollar to dealers at the Elk Grove Auto Mall, the City of Elk Grove is being urged to give a shot in the arm to local consumers and area businesses by bringing back a popular Holiday shopping program that was conducted two years ago.

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In a letter to Elk Grove City Manager Laura Gill, Elk Grove Community Connection urged the following today:

On Wednesday, November 9, with the one and only council meeting for November, and the holidays upon us -- which means the beginning of holiday shopping -- the most important being Black Friday, I am respectfully requesting that you revisit a very successful program for our residents and our Elk Grove businesses alike. Two years ago, Steve Detrick, Gary Davis and Jim Cooper championed a proposal for "Shop & Dine Elk Grove" brought forth by the Elk Grove Community Connection.


Even though the staff report was less than favorable for the proposal, we got the three votes needed to move forward, with the council allocating $10,000 to fund the program which began on Black Friday, November of 2009.


As we know, upon implementation by staff, Shop & Dine Elk Grove was a complete success, selling out in less than two weeks. [The basic formula being that 200 Elk Grove residents spent $500 in local businesses or $100,000; took their receipts to city hall, filled out a form, stood in line to receive a $50 gift card to spend another $50 at local businesses.] And what is general rule, one dollar spent in a locally owned business turns over seven times in that same community?


The city council has recently approved incentives for auto mall dealerships and to relocate a state agency which is admirable. Economic development, large and small, is critical to the overall economic success of our city. However, for the last two years, nothing has been done as motivation to our residents who need a bit of incentive themselves, especially now with the holidays upon us and economic troubles still very much in the forefront which certainly affects our local businesses.


I know the council has given you the ability to approve funds up to $50,000 without council approval. With that, are there any funds available, at your discretion either out of the city manager and/or the economic development budget, to fund Shop & Dine Elk Grove for 2011 beginning again on Black Friday?


It wouldn't take staff much to re-institute a program that has already been designed, implemented and was a complete success -- see attached. For example regarding the 2009 program, a friend of mine called me as she was leaving city hall, for you see she wanted to take advantage of the program and to see how it worked firsthand -- being bit a skeptic.


Though not an Elk Grove resident, she spent more than $500 here in Elk Grove; drove to city hall, filled out the form, got in line with many others to receive the $50 gift card -- many of whom had never been to city hall -- only to have staff put up a sign that read "Shop & Dine Elk Grove Sold Out." Everyone there in line, disappointed, were all turned away. But the key here is, people made the conscious effort, took full advantage of the incentive put forth by the city council and that is phenomenal!


For your convenience, here is the link to the original staff report which included the original Shop & Dine Proposal.


In closing, with the launch of the Best in Elk Grove Business Awards, our small businesses, along with our residents, certainly need a shot in the arm this holiday season to jump start reinforcing the importance of shopping local. And that can begin with our leaders promoting Shop & Dine Elk Grove 2011 with a "buying local holiday cheer" incentive.


Finally, this well-structured incentive program worked!


Sincerely,
Connie Conley, Founder
Elk Grove Community Connection

As a follow-up, the following email correspondence was also forwarded to the media and city officials. According to this one source within city hall, the program was a great success.

From: Angela Frost
To: 'connie4eg'
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 5:52 PM
Subject: RE: $50 Gift Cards


Thank you Connie! This was an excellent idea and I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback from residents. I receive anywhere from 10-12 calls a day about the gift cards. Everyone is excited and glad the City has this program in place. I even received a call from the City of Lincoln asking how they could do something like this in their City. Thank you for helping Elk Grove be the model City for others to follow.
Take care,
Angela

According to COnley, she has not received any response from Gill or any other city official.
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