Florida Trend | Florida's Business Authority

Who said that?

"We are seeing businesses that are going to have to close because they don’t have employees."

-- Virginia Panico, executive vice president of the Key West Chamber of Commerce

Florida Keys business leaders on Thursday urged the Monroe County Commission to endorse Gov. Rick Scott's gift of 1,300 new affordable housing building permits for an area where growth is mandated by the state.

“None of us can find the employees we need, or if we can find them, they can’t stay here,” said Joe Walsh, a developer who owns several Key West restaurants. “They’re proposing a way for Monroe County to be in charge of its own destiny.”

The permits come with strings attached: Those living in the new homes must evacuate the Keys within 48 hours of tropical storm winds hitting the shoreline.

Read more at the Miami Herald.