Lockport business sending facilities to Winter Olympics

A little extra comfort will turn up on the grounds of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City thanks to a Lockport business. Black Tie Services, a pioneer in the field of high-end portable restroom facilities, is shipping west 10 customized lavatory pods it has devised for people with disabilities.

The 8-by-8-foot, self-contained units, complete with sinks, will be set up and ready to go when the games begin Feb. 8.Company owner Dave Bandauski noted that the pods, an innovation in the industry, fill a focused niche.

"They're built specifically for the physically challenged, something that has the space and comforts of a high-end restroom," Bandauski said.

"In this case these were specifically ordered because all the restroom facilities in and around the Olympic Village were designed for the able-bodied."

He said he was asked to provide the pods by a consortium of five major portable restroom services who have contracted to furnish those facilities.

Under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1995, services and facilities provided for people with disabilities have to be of comparable caliber with those made available to people without.

"If everyone else is driving Cadillacs, I can't offer only Volkswagens for the physically challenged," Bandauski said.

The consortium knew exactly where to go to get what needed to be arranged, he said.

"They said, `If anyone can do it, you guys can do it,'" he said.

"We're the go-to guys.

If someone needs something like this, they come to Lockport and talk to us.

We're it."

Visit the Black Tie Services, Inc. website.