Sen. Brown: Visit will show good, bad of county’s economy
The Chronicle-Telegram – Presidents don’t come for a visit very often, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said Thursday during a telephone conference call with reporters on the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to Lorain County.
The visit — which includes a town hall meeting at Lorain County Community College — will allow the president to see the impact of the recession on the county and also allow him to see the strides the county is making to recover, said Brown, D-Avon.
“Lorain County has seen its share of economic challenges, but its workers, businesses, and community organizations have addressed them head-on with innovative solutions,” Brown said.
Manufacturing, always a key component of Lorain County’s economy, has been especially hard-hit by the economic woes, Brown said, although he hopes that the county — and the rest of the state — can reinvent itself as a center of clean energy manufacturing.
“Manufacturing, as we know, is the backbone of our economy and creates four to five other jobs,” he said. Shifting to a manufacturing base in wind and other green industries is one of the key steps that Brown said he believes will help revitalize the local economy.
Brown pointed to $24.6 million in federal stimulus money that will help BASF Catalysts in Elyria expand its plant to produce lithium-ion batteries as an example of the changeover to green manufacturing.
