Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/599004
Page 9 PSAI Industry Retrospective - the 80s History Of The PSAI: The 1980s Flashback to the 1980s in order to see the world as it was during the 2nd Decade of our Association: 1980 Mount St Helens erupts in Washington…Pac Man video game is released…Rubik's Cube is a national obsession…Ted Turner establishes a 24 hour "all-news" station called CNN. 1981 Former California Governor and Movie Star, Ronald Reagan is sworn in as our 40th President…. e Royal Wedding of England's Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer is broadcast worldwide… IBM announces the "Personal Computer" to be known as the "PC." 1983 Cabbage Patch Kids are the #1 toy in America. 1985 "New Coke" is released by the Coca-Cola Company and the wreck of the Titanic is found. 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explodes aer li-off. 1989 Berlin Wall comes down aer 28 years signaling the end of Communism. Our Association began the decade as the "Portable Sanitation Association (PSA)" and ended the decade as the "Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI)." ECONOMIC RECESSION OF 1980-1982 e U.S. faced a deep recession when the 1980s began as evidenced by a prime interest rate of 20.5 percent, an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent, an inflation rate of 14.8 percent, and a 30-year mortgage rate of 18.5 percent. e portable restroom industry was profoundly impacted by the weak economy. As Lee Sola remembers, "In 1981, when we started our first business, Ameri-Kan Sanitation, we needed to obtain an equipment loan. I remember thinking that I had negotiated one great deal when we obtained a 19% interest rate as opposed to the going market rate." Since these early days, Lee has been conscious of "the cost of doing business and the cost of service." He continues to contribute his expertise in this area to the PSAI today. Partially as a result of the poor economy, in 1982 the PSA Board of Directors voted to hire an Executive Director to manage the Association. Ted Anderson, formerly of Satellite Industries, was hired for this position. Ted, located in Minneapolis, established operations there. Held in America for the first time since 1932, these were the first Summer Olympic Games to feature the widespread use of portable restrooms. Sometime in 1981, a second generation business owner from a small portable restroom company in the greater Los Angeles area contacted the Olympic Organizing Committee to inquire as to the need for portable sanitation. Barry Gump from the Andy Gump Company was given the "go ahead" to develop a plan to present to the Organizing Committee. According to Barry, "we were the little guy in town and I knew that we would need to work with other companies in order to successfully handle the Olympics." Barry contacted Nick and Bill Bulaich of A&B, Mark Nottingham and Ron Nelson of Nottingham's, and Harvey Heather of United to schedule a meeting to discuss this massive event. At the meeting, only Barry had prepared an overall plan which led Mark Nottingham to tell Harvey Heather, "Harv, this boy really has his act together." Eventually Andy Gump, A&B, and Nottingham would be awarded the Olympic bid and Barry's master plan became reality. ere were 845 units and 11 handicapped accessible units to be place in 28 venues from downtown Los Angeles, throughout Orange County, Long Beach, Anaheim, Mission Viejo, Santa Monica, and Pasadena. According to Barry, "is was the first time that any of us in the group had heard the word 'venue' but we soon learned that it meant a location with a lot of units." e collection of PSA companies performed 900 services each night from the July 28th opening ceremony with President Reagan to the August 12th closing ceremony with Olympic Chairman Peter Ueberroth. While Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, and Mary Lou Retton were the heroes by day, the collection of PSA service companies were the heroes by night. 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles!