When Brian Lawler became mayor of New Bedford, Mass. (pop. 97,250), in 1983, he knew he would be in charge of schools, parks and garbage pickup, but he never thought about running a factory. Until now. Lawler announced last week that the city stood ready to make unprecedented use of its power of eminent domain to take over Morse Cutting Tools, a 120-year-old New Bedford manufacturer that employs about 450 workers. Gulf & Western Industries, the New York-based conglomerate that owns Morse Cutting Tools, has been shedding divisions and has set a tentative July 31 deadline for selling...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
