Few people living in the Wimberley area have any say in how decisions are made in the Wimberley area. If you are not in the city limits, you do not get to vote for the Mayor or City Council. Like so many places, elected officials do what they want once they are in office and pay little heed to community opinions they do not share.
This week the Wimberley City Council will decide whether to allow the HEB grocery chain to build their big box store in the cramped pie slice of land that once was the Bowen campus. The School District is looking greedily at the dollars they can get for the land and local elites have already been contacted by HEB to ensure their cooperation.
Anyone knows this area suffered serious traffic congestion when it housed a school. This land is locked between the two major gates to Wimberley and why anyone would think that building a grocery store there would not be a traffic disaster is beyond my comprehension.
Like many, I like the kind of stores HEB has built in Texas. They are a better option in many ways than Brookshire’s, although I like the size of our current grocery store. There is no way Brookshire’s will survive the building of an HEB in Wimberley. I venture to say that Brookshire’s will not last out the year once HEB is across the street.
Add to the social disruption the many local businesses that will not be able to compete with HEB’s economy of scale or the convenience of one-stop shopping. I bet at least one or two gas stations, the car wash, the florist, the pharmacy, some of the smaller sandwich shops and cafes will also see downturns in business, if not close down completely.
HEB will change Wimberley, its economy and its culture forever. I do not see any need for this, nor any benefit to the town. This project is all about HEB and has little to do with what might be best for Wimberley in the long run.
Who benefits, really? Not me and likely not you, either.
Susan Cook
Driftwood
*Edited for length to fit letter policy
