CSDM slammed for lack of openness

It’s been simmering chronically in local news that the CSDM, the city’s biggest school board, has been high-handed with the many community groups which have rented out affordable spaces in disused school buildings for years. Sometimes it threatens to hike the rents, sometimes it threatens to throw them all out – now it’s talking about selling off buildings to raise money because it has to rent office space for the 766 workers that will be displaced because its head office, like so many of its school buildings, is infested with mould. But it’s not being open about its plans with the many groups that would be affected by this.

In an unrelated but somewhat similar story, a building near Parc metro in Park Ex has been sold and is supposed to be turned into “trendy” apartments. The building has housed small businesses and community groups for years, which have been given days to clear out so work can begin. The owner says he has no idea why people are upset about his plans.