Is the way RTO is playing out revealing its true purpose?

I see a few common themes that keep coming up with the RTO implementation:

1. Divisions are being split between multiple offices. As a result, RTO is actually achieving the exact opposite of its stated purpose of increased in-person collaboration. People who used to see each other twice a week will now never see each other in person, and will be on Teams calls from opposite sides of the city.

2. Some offices are considering moving from Downtown to suburban office parks. As a result, RTO is actually achieving the exact opposite of its stated purpose of economically revitalizing downtown areas.

3. Small businesses that were downtown before the pandemic have made the smart decision to move to other neighborhoods and will now be punished for it. Check out this CBS News segment from 2021 that features a downtown small business. https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/downtown-sacramento-prizes-incentives/

They have since moved to East Sac and will now lose business due to RTO. It’s clear that the Downtown Sacramento Partnership never gave a fuck about these businesses. It was all a PR stunt to build public consent for RTO and subsidize Michael Ault’s failed project on the backs of California taxpayers.

Given this shitshow of an RTO rollout, two possible “real” reasons for RTO are becoming clear.

1. Commercial real estate and related corporate profits. The “hypocrisy” of RTO is actually remarkably consistent when viewed through this lens. Asking “who benefits?” usually gets you close to the right answer. Not to mention the second in command of this state is directly involved in the industry.

2. Was the plan all along for it to never happen? Was it not supposed to make sense from an implementation perspective because it’s just a hardball bargaining tactic?