Many Staten Island residents have become Homeless because of Hurricane Sandy and one hotel owner has many Staten Island residents whose homes are without power and flooded, in its care. Now, with runners flying in to stay at the hotel for the upcoming New York Marathon, the hotel owner of the Hilton Garden Inn is refusing to kick out his current guests whose homes could be lost due to Sandy.
USA Today reported that Hotel owner Richard Nicotra said that people are relying on the hotel as they are homeless because of Sandy.
"We opened up the doors to our hotels on Saturday and Sunday for people, and everybody anticipated being here for Monday night when the storm happened," Nicotra said to USA Today. "They were hoping to go back to their houses. Tuesday was supposed to be a little better and Wednesday was supposed to be fine, but by Wednesday, we started to realize it was worse than we thought."
The hotel had been booked up on Thursday for marathon runners and on Thursday morning when individuals affected by Sandy still had nowhere to go, he contacted the New York Road Runners which organizes the race and told them that they can't throw them out.
"Nicotra said he gave the group other options, including setting up a temporary dormitory in the hotel's 10,000-square-foot ballroom, which can house up to 500 people with cots," reported USA Today.
He added that "We need to take care of our neighbors."
Many hotels are also filled up with out of town visitors who were unable to leave New York because of Sandy and the airport closures.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced that the marathon would continue on Sunday, despite the aftermath of Sandy and thousands still being left without power.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
