Austin, TX

Residents of an Austin-area food desert call for an H-E-B

Published

1 year ago

November 10, 2023

Press Room

Residents of an Austin-area food desert call for an H-E-B

H-E-B’s Nutty Brown store in southwest Austin that opened in July 2023.

Courtesy of H-E-B

As H-E-B and its other store brands open or prepare to break ground in Houston and North Texas, Austin councilmember Vanessa Fuentes thinks there is no greater need for an H-E-B than in the unincorporated Central Texas community known as Del Valle.

The area is on the Colorado River in southeastern Travis County, less than 10 miles from downtown Austin. With the local school district seeing a population of more than 80,000 people, the community has long desired a nearby grocery store. And H-E-B owns a plot of land on Highway 71 and FM 973 in Del Valle.

Instead, it functions as a textbook food desert. Residents have relied on convenience stores and small grocers such as JD’s Supermarkets, or make a long trek to the nearest H-E-B in Austin or Bastrop.

Fuentes, who serves a portion of Del Valle as the District 2 council member, sent a letter to H-E-B CEO Howard Butt III in late October asking for a meeting with the executive team of the grocer to discuss the matter. Ultimately, H-E-B did not provide a timeline to Fuentes or Chron when questioned about when a store would come to the area.

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“We are experiencing tremendous growth in that area,” Fuentes said, noting that Tesla’s headquarters are located in Del Valle. “So we’re having a lot of activity but yet, our basic needs for reliable, affordable, healthy food options have gone unmet.”

Fuentes added that she would like to see any reliable, large-scale grocer open in Del Valley, but she understands that the Del Valle community wants a Texas-favorite grocery store with affordable food. Plus, she thinks other grocers may not feel much incentive to open a store in Del Valle when a major competitor like H-E-B already owns land in the area.

But since 2016, the grocer has left its land on Highway 71 and FM 973 untouched. Fuentes says that the ongoing sentiment among Del Valle residents is that H-E-B is waiting for more population growth to come to the area before they break ground to ensure that their business is profitable.

“It’s hard to kind of reconcile what we’re told is the framework that guides how H-E-B makes these decisions, versus what you see is happening; you’re actively seeing the changes in your area,” Fuentes said. “So the community really wants this to get off the ground as quickly as possible.”

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Leslie Sweet, H-E-B’s director of public affairs for Central Texas, notes that the company expanded its home delivery service to Del Valle residents and is making “substantial investments in partnerships that will immediately help improve food access.”

“As we review our long-term planning options, it often makes sense to purchase property well in advance of our current real estate needs,” Sweet said. “Development in Southeast Austin and Del Valle has been encouraging, and it made sense to invest in land holdings in Del Valle for our future aspirations to bring a store to this community.”

While Del Valle residents wait, H-E-B has kept busy with other Central Texas projects in recent years. This past summer, H-E-B opened a store in southwest Austin and started construction on a store in Pflugerville. And in 2021, the grocer announced plans to update Austin’s longest-standing H-E-B store on South Congress. The company expects to re-open the store in the summer or early fall of 2024.

Meanwhile, Del Valle has been pushing for H-E-B to address food insecurity in the area, and residents have expressed feeling devalued by the beloved Texas grocer as time goes on.

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“The issue with waiting for the land to become more developed is that H-E-B is suggesting that the people who currently live in Del Valle are not important enough or significant enough to deserve having a grocery store within a reasonable distance from their homes, like the rest of Austin,” a 2020 petition reads.

In addition to pushing H-E-B to move faster, Fuentes says she is working on other fixes and has secured funding for the creation of a grocery store co-op.

“I am also in parallel trying to make the case of how governments can and should have a role in addressing food insecurity when the private market won’t move fast enough, and so that work still continues,” Fuentes said. “But just want to underscore the community has been very loud and clear with me that they want their H-E-B.”

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Austin, TX

Clemson vs. Texas in CFP bracket: Kickoff time, date for away playoff game

Published

7 hours ago

December 16, 2024

Press Room

Clemson vs. Texas in CFP bracket: Kickoff time, date for away playoff game

CLEMSON — No. 12 seed Clemson football will face No. 5 seed Texas in the first round of the CFP.

The Tigers (10-3) will travel to Austin, Texas, to face the Longhorns (11-2) on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, TNT) at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. This will be the first matchup ever between Clemson and Texas.

The winner advances to play No. 4 seed Arizona State, the Big 12 champion, in the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 1 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Here’s what time Clemson vs. Texas will start and what day it will happen:

Clemson vs. Texas in CFP game date

Clemson will face Texas on Dec. 21.

What time Clemson plays Texas in CFP

Clemson vs. Texas starts at 4 p.m. ET and will air on TNT. Streaming options for the game include FUBO, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.

Where is Clemson vs. Texas

Texas will host Clemson in Austin, Texas, at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.

Clemson vs. Texas predictions

Texas has been one of the best teams in the country despite losing in the SEC championship. Its only two losses are to Georgia, who also beat Clemson in Week 1. Backed by over 100,000 fans, the Longhorns will beat Clemson and advance to the second round of the CFP. Clemson is 0-2 against SEC teams this season too.

Clemson vs. Texas odds

Game lines and odds from BetMGM:

Spread: Clemson (+11.5)
Over/under: 51.5
Moneyline: Clemson (+325), Texas (-400)

Clemson vs. Texas tickets

Tickets are only available on the secondary market and start at $101 on StubHub.

To see a full list of ticket prices, visit StubHub.

CFP schedule

First round (campus site games)

Friday, Dec. 20, 2024:

No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame (8 p.m. ET, ABC)

Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024:

No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State (noon ET, TNT)

No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas (4 p.m. ET, TNT)

No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State (8 p.m. ET, ABC)

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024: Fiesta Bowl (State Farm Stadium — Glendale, Arizona)
Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Mercedes-Benz Stadium — Atlanta), Rose Bowl Game (Rose Bowl — Pasadena, California) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (Caesars Superdome — New Orleans)

Semifinals

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025: Capital One Orange Bowl (Hard Rock Stadium — Miami)
Friday, Jan. 10, 2025: Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (AT&T Stadium — Arlington, Texas)

National championship

Monday, Jan. 20, 2025: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)

What bowl games are in CFP?

The Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic are the six bowl games featured in the CFP.

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00

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Austin, TX

More drone sightings on the rise

Published

15 hours ago

December 16, 2024

Press Room

Police in Boston have arrested two men after drones were spotted flying “dangerously close” to Logan Airport last night. This comes amid growing concerns about a series of drone sightings that started in the Northeast and have expanded across the country. FOX’s CB Cotton is in New Jersey with the latest.

Posted December 15, 2024 9:32pm CST

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Austin, TX

Deadly weekend on Central Texas roads; 4 people dead in 3 separate crashes

Published

22 hours ago

December 15, 2024

Press Room

Deadly weekend on Central Texas roads; 4 people dead in 3 separate crashes

AUSTIN, Texas – It has been a deadly weekend on Central Texas roads.

Four people have been killed in three separate crashes in less than 48 hours.

Northwest Austin crash

One person is dead after a crash in Northwest Austin late Friday night.

The single-car crash happened just before 10:30 p.m. Dec. 13 in the 11500 block of Jollyville Road near US 183.

When first responders got there, an adult was pinned inside the car.

The person was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.

South Austin crash

Two people are dead after a two-vehicle rollover crash in South Austin on Saturday afternoon.

It happened around 4:30 p.m. at the intersection of Peppertree Parkway and East Stassney Lane. Four people were involved and one was pinned in the vehicle.

Despite efforts to revive them, two adults died at the scene.

One person was transported as a trauma alert to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with serious injuries.

Officials did not share the status of or transport needs for the fourth person involved.