Dry area of Heights could get moist
With the intention of building a new store in the Heights, H-E-B said Wednesday that it has been working with a political consulting firm in Austin to help change a law precluding beer and wine sales in a dry part of the historic Houston neighborhood.
The San Antonio-based grocer said it has contracted with Texas Petition Strategies to collect signatures needed to secure a place on the November ballot where residents can vote to make beer and wine sales — for off-premise consumption — legal.
The effort has led to a petition drive by a group called the Houston Heights Beverage Coalition, which has been seeking some 1,500 signatures needed.
H-E-B spokeswoman Cyndy Garza Roberts said a location in the Heights has been identified, but the company is still in negotiations on the site and com-
menting on specific details would be premature.
“We definitely want to be in the Heights, but in order to do so we need to make sure we provide those customers with the same quality products that they’re able to find at our other stores,” she said.
Houston attorney and Heights resident Steven Reilley believes it is time to lift the 104-year-old restriction on selling alcohol in the original Houston Heights.
The dry area is within an oddly shaped boundary roughly between Interstate 10 to the south, Loop 610 to the north, Durham on the west and Oxford on the east.
“The goal here really is just to bring in a modern state-of-the-art grocery store that the neighborhood would otherwise support,” Reilley said. “But it’s not economically viable if these stores can’t sell beer and wine for offpremise use.”
If the vote passes, it would level the grocery playing field for those within the dry boundaries, said John Hatch of Texas Petition Strategies.
“The Heights has stores on all sides that can sell beer and wine. They can’t,” he said.
The signatures are needed for a “local option election” for those in those original boundaries of the Houston Heights, which was its own city before it became part of Houston in 1918.
Reilley, who is involved with the coalition, said other area stores support the initiative and would reinvest money in the Heights if they are able to sell beer and wine at their stores.
He said a Kroger on 20th Street and a recently closed Fiesta on 23rd at Shepherd are in the dry area.
If the vote passes, Reilley said, it would not allow bars and restaurants to suddenly be able to sell liquor in the area.
“It won’t lead to chain restaurants up and down Shepherd or lead to new bars,” he said.
The group has 60 days to gather the signatures from residents who live in the area formerly known as the City of Houston Heights. Once the signatures are gathered, they will be verified by the city secretary, with the Houston City Council then calling the election for November, according to a news release.
The signatures are being collected by a door-to-door effort and they can also be signed at area establishments, including Coltivare and Revival Market, said Hatch. The coalition has secured more than half of the signatures needed, he said.