Rosie Dimanno writes about what the Astor Crowne Plaza was doing while others did nothing:
"Such a cornucopia might, amidst such dreadful need, seem unforgivable. But this is what should be known of the Astor: The deluxe hotel took in and cared for two thousand people at the height of the hurricane crisis, one of the few establishments that continued to function, an oasis of ingenuity and resourcefulness , during all the long days and nights when relief agencies were nowhere evident.
The staff did not skedaddle or abandon this mass of humanity to fend for itself. Only some of those who enjoyed refuge at the Astor were actual paying guests who had failed to evacuate when they had the chance, as Katrina warnings grew more urgent, or were unable to depart afterwards because their cars were submerged in water in underground garages. The balance of 'guests' were New Orleans citizens and French Quarter locals who had thrown themselves on the mercy of manager Peter Ambros, a 61-year-old hotelier with all the cultured elegance of his native Vienna.
It was Ambros, calmly puffing on his cigar, who repeatedly refused to evacuate all these refugees, even when the New Orleans Police Department kept telling him to send them to the hideous Superdome or the just as wretched convention centre. Ambros sent out scouts to assess those venues and said, no way. 'It's not safe. It's filthy. I won't turn them out,' he steadfastly asserted."
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