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Even though they're no longer making hot dogs or bologna at Colonial Provisions Co. in Boston, debate sparked by the plant closing last month has yet to abate.
Efforts by Boston city officials to block the closing of the plant and preserve 600 manufacturing jobs reached a peak early this year when the City Council voted 12 to 1 to pursue takeover of the Colonial Provisions meat processing plant and the Colonial trademark by eminent domain -- the right of the government to take private property for public use. While the stance enjoyed a degree of popular support and bolstered morale at the plant, the plan was abandoned after the city's counsel advised against an eminent domain taking.
Plans to close the plant, the City Council's vote and the subsequent decision not to use eminent domain prompted bitter arguments over the fairness and validity of eminent domain, and whether municipalities have the right, in effect, to act as intermediaries between two private companies against their will. "I don't think \eminent domain} emulates the ideals of what the capitalist and democratic system is supposed to be all about. It doesn't make sense to me," said Joel Dorfman, president of Thorn Apple Valley Inc. of Southfield, Mich., the company that purchased the Colonial Provisions plant last year and closed it in March.
By mid-March, it appeared the closing itself might be short-lived. Negotiations over a sale of the plant were underway between Thorn Apple Valley and Atlantic Brands Inc. of Roxbury, Mass. Atlantic Brands said it had reached a tentative agreement to purchase the plant from Thorn Apple Valley, which, if finalized, would be followed by the resumption of production by late spring; 150 workers would be employed. Dorfman confirmed that negotiations were in progress, but he would not confirm any agreement.
Apparently, arguments over the legal questions that preceded the closing will take longer to resolve than the operating problems that beset the plant.
JOBS VS. PROFITS
The debate over the Colonial closing hinged in large part on the definition of public purpose and how it is best served. Some city officials believed the case to be clear-cut: Jobs and economic health were at stake, and the common good of the city warranted taking the...