More than 100 Montrose-area residents gathered on Saturday afternoon to protest plans for a new H-E-B supermarket at West Alabama and Dunlavy streets. The group marched a few blocks from the Menil Collection, where a community arts festival was taking place, to the site of the proposed supermarket, holding signs that said "Community, Not Profit" and "No More Concrete."
The grocery giant has purchased the nearly eight-acre site —where the dilapidated Wilshire Village apartments were located — and hopes to open a a supermarket there next year. But a group called Montrose Land Defense Coalition, which organized the march, hopes to convince H-E-B to donate the land to the city for park space.
Addressing the crowd with a megaphone, coalition director Maria-Elisa Heg pointed out the many large oak trees on the property and said it would be a perfect spot for a Montrose Town Square — "a place to come and be together."
"We as a community need to take control and become involved in the land that we live near," she said.
Several protestors also expressed concern about the fate of the Fiesta grocery store across the street which serves as a community hub.
Montrose resident Peter Ewing, Neartown Association President David Robinson and Heg urged protestors to contact Mayor Annise Parker, Houston city council members, and H-E-B officials. The coalition is also discussing alternatives with architects and collaborating with the non-profit group Forever Garden to formulate a plan for a green space. The Coalition's next public meeting is March 21 at 5 p.m. at Stag's Head Pub.
The blueprint indicates a green space marooned in the site's southwest corner.
