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Method To Open South Side Manufacturing Plant

UPDATED: 7/16/2013 3:45 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The city and state are putting up about a third of the $30 million cost for a San Francisco-based cleaning products company to open a manufacturing plant in the far south side Pullman neighborhood.

New Plant For South Side

Method co-founder Adam Lowry says it was just 13 years ago that he and a friend started the company in a San Francisco apartment with the idea that business could be a force for social and environmental good.

The company makes a variety of biodegradable cleaning products--from dish soap to laundry detergent to general household cleaners--that are more friendly to the environment.

"We built Method to be the business of tomorrow that aligns the interest of society and the environment, so that the bigger we get, the more good we do" Lowry said.

Ald. Anthony Beale said the plant, which will be located near the new neighborhood Wal-Mart will bring more jobs, which will mean less crime in the community.

Beale said the plant will provide the first new manufacturing jobs in 10 years.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel notes the city beat out about 150 other locations for this green plant and its 100 jobs.

Pullman was once an industrial mecca, home to a huge rail car manufacturing campus.

From her front porch in Pullman Latasha Spiller has seen blight move in and jobs move out over the years.

Today's news was very much welcomed.

"My son is trying for a job," she said. "Hope is alive, you've got to keep hope."

"A lot of people over the years have written about the rich history of Pullman as a past," Emanuel said. "I think today we are turning the chapter and writing about Pullman and the City of Chicago in the future."

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