Councilman wants Green Business Council


Alicia Castelli
The Chronicle-Telegram

LORAIN - City Council­man Dennis Flores, D-2nd Ward, is urging his fellow leg­islators to form a green busi­ness council to educate and train the public on green jobs, to help existing busi­nesses become more energy efficient and to, attract "green" industry to Lorain Flores said Monday that he plans to put his idea on Council's agenda soon. A let­ter from Flores on the topic was accepted by Council dur­ing Monday's meeting. Flores, in conjunction with the nonprofit group Legions of Light, wants to make Lorain a greener place to live, and he said it's a practical pursuit because he believes more and more jobs will be found in the green industry. "Local legislation will not only create an excellent bridge to employment for the unemployed, but it will help make a shift to green industry in this city, "Flores said. Robert Ben­son, Legions of Light Foun­dation program director, said the group's vision is multifac­eted. " For current businesses, we want them to be more sustainable, " Benson said. " We want to help them find ways to reuse materials and recy­cle. The less we waste, the more we save for the future. "Training and education for these new types of jobs will be a key part of the green business council's work, Ben­son said. ''A training program and environmental education to prepare the unemployed for the jobs of the future is an important step," Benson said." It could also be useful in housing retrofitting with wind turbines and solar pan­els' for example. "Flores said he'd like to see the building department incorporate energy-efficient design in any building rehabbed. In particular, he wants to see it happen with buildings rehabbed through the feder­ally funded Neighborhood Stabilization Program that is about to start in Lorain, in which the city will have access to more than $3 mil­lion to demolish or buy and rehabilitate blighted proper­ties that are in foreclosure." This is very important to me, " Flores said. " It's high on my priority list. We need jobs. We need to start talking about bringing jobs to Lorain."