Movers: Keys residents on their way out

[ColdWaterConch]

KEY WEST — Ben Harris, who's lived here 20 years, is leaving the island for good Monday, heading back to his hometown of Richmond, Va.

"I came 20 years ago to stay for a couple years," Harris said. "I got a job at Louie's Backyard, got a boat and never left."

He said he still loves Key West, but he's tired of the increasing cost of living as well as hurricane evacuations.

"I'm not going to work two jobs and have three roommates to live here," Harris said. "Plus, all the things I liked about the town are changing — it turned from a mom-and-pop town to a chain town."

As head waiter at Louie's Backyard for years, Harris said the money could be good but that it didn't match cost-of-living increases, and a hurricane scare would dry it up completely.

"I missed two months of work last year," Harris said. "With every hurricane, it takes about two weeks to get back to normal, and last year seemed like there was always another one brewing."

Harris rented a U-Haul trailer from Pak Mail on Saturday and began loading up years' worth of belongings.

Lately, it's been busy at Pak Mail, a mail center that also rents U-Hauls to people moving out of the area.

Owner John Strong said his commissions from U-Haul rentals at the Flagler Avenue operation are up 40 percent from the same time last year. Such commissions are based on rental frequency and distance, Strong said.

"I'm nosy," he said. "I talk to everybody who's leaving."

Last year, Strong said fewer people left town, and they tended to be single, more short-term residents. Now he said he sees longtime Keys families going.

-- snip ----

http://keysnews.com/285981341318288.bsp.htm for rest of article.
-----------------

I know many people want to live the "Buffett" life and live down in the keys...unfortnately, those days have long passed. I know that my father has always had a tough time keeping employees, and has to pay them ridiculous wages just so they can afford housing. He, too, is biding his time....kinda ironic that when he retires, he will be leaving Key West....

[Calypso Poet 99]

Costa Rica keeps on coming up as a place where its like the keys were 20 years ago. Thats the same time frame where most of us say we should have bought up all the property in the keys we could. Obviously buying property in another county is considerably more risky, but It would be nice to buy a few lots and hold on to them for a while.

[OystersandBeer]

Nah, that place is goin fast, too. I was there in '99 and have heard that Tamarindo now has paved roads and huge hotels. In six years it went from dirt roads and camping with a few hotels and restaurants to tourist mecca. Loss of innocence is happening everywhere. Wouldn't doubt a Wal-Mart will be over there soon. They probably got one in San Jose already. Gotta keep searchin. Maybe Papa New Guinia(however you spell it). Where they just found two million acres of untouched rainforest and something like twenty new species of animals, including mammals.