Brickell church deal kills food truck

I’m writing in response to the Oct. 14 article entitled “Enough buildings: Brickell residents oppose church plan to sell land for development.”

While I think it’s important to shed light on these kinds of controversial real-estate deals, I believe the author may have underscored the importance of decreasing affordable food in Miami’s financial district.

I give the author credit for mentioning that the owner of the Bistro food truck who sets up in the parking lot behind the First Presbyterian Church on Brickell will likely be losing his job over this deal, yet the overall economic impact this has on working-class residents in the region seems to have been glossed over.

Removing one of the only sources of affordable food in the financial district will increase the cost of living for all residents who can’t afford the overpriced restaurants for lunch in the area.

This deal clearly is all about making more wealth for the wealthy and decreasing opportunities for people who are already under a tremendous amount of hardship.

By removing one of the only sources of affordable lunch in the area, the people making the deal are furthering Miami’s transformation into a food desert. It’s not simply a matter of having to pay more for food, the community’s cost of living and health will be affected on several levels.

Since Miami’s financial district has many immigrant workers, they might be impacted the most by the economic consequences of this deal. The developers are certainly happy to push out working-class people who are already struggling to get by — after all, they won’t be buying any condos. Condo developers will never miss out on profits to provide affordable food to the community. – Kevin Barra, FAU student,

Davie