KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — North Killeen has been without a grocery store for years, and city council members are now joining residents in demanding answers about how the issue was overlooked for so long.
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The City of Killeen is investigating what city staffer told the Killeen Economic Development Corporation to stop seeking a grocery store for the area, which the USDA has designated a food desert.
Tiffany Arthur, a lifelong North Killeen resident, said the absence of a nearby grocery store has created serious hardships for families in the community.
"Downtown HEB, which is on Gray Street, and I also was raised by the IGA. Now it's very unfortunate that a lot of people do not have the transportation and or the funds to even feed their families, because food brings families together."
Growing up, Arthur would frequently walk or ride the bus with her mom to go to the store for essentials. She said watching the area decline has been heartbreaking.
"It ain't nothing wrong with being low income. It's about the inconvenience. That's what it is. That's exactly what it is, and the accommodations are not accommodating."
The request for a grocery store has been a top concern for residents through multiple changes in city leadership. Killeen City Council Member at Large, Mellisa Brown, raised the issue during a recent city council meeting, questioning how the longtime problem was allowed to go unaddressed.
"I had asked him the same question, where is the development uh in the grocery store? Where's the progress on that? And he told me that KEDC actually has not been working on it based on something they were told by a Killeen City staff member. Um, so I asked him, you know, who that staff member was."
Brown said the issue will remain a top council priority as the city restarts the process of bringing a grocery store to North Killeen.
"This is also a matter of people deserve, no matter where they live in the city, no matter how much money they do or don't have, to have access to essential needs and necessities for life."
The investigation is still ongoing and will be addressed at a future city council meeting. Brown said the issue could come up again in July.
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