By: Rusty Brooks
The Covid-19 pandemic has made the world a topsy-turvy place, but nowhere is this more evident than in New York City housing court. A woman who took in a roommate to help make ends meet has spent the past three years trying to evict her has finally had her day in court and won.
Kate Gladstone, 46, moved into Heidi Russell’s West Village apartment and almost immediately stopped paying rent. Gladstone also allegedly threatened Russell and her dog and made Russell’s partner move out from fear and harassment and forced Russell to spend hours walking her dog in order to avoid spending time in the apartment.
Every time Russell took Gladstone to court, the judge would give Gladstone a reprieve. Finally Covid-19 meant that the state issued a moratorium on evictions so the courts couldn’t even do anything to help Russell.
Finally, after the moratorium came to an end, Gladstone was obliged to appear in court, albeit virtually, and was, once and for all, evicted.
The New York Post reported, “August 2020, a desperate Russell — who said she spent days wandering the streets with her poodle to avoid Gladstone — sued in a bid to get her out, prompting a front page in The Post. Russell said her unwanted roommate sprayed chemicals, recorded her and blasted music. In July 2021, the court signed off on a warrant to evict Gladstone, pending a status conference.
But Gladstone claimed financial hardship, which paused the case. In March — two years after she’d initially agreed to leave — Gladstone filed a state Emergency Rental Assistance Program application, which again halted the eviction effort.”
Following the formal eviction last week, Gladstone has been seen causing a scene at the apartment, banging on the door and insisting on being let in, Gladstone has even filed an appeal to have the eviction reversed.
The Judge ruled against Gladstone, finding that she did not need access to the apartment as the locks had been changed and her possessions have been removed to a storage facility in the Bronx.
The Post reported that Judge Evon Asforis told Gladstone, “I am not going to provide access if your items are no longer there. Ms. Gladstone, you have to go to a shelter if you have nowhere else to go.”
Gladstone who also goes by the name Katherine Klein, claimed to the judge that, “This all happened so quickly. We have zero access to the apartment,” she said, as was reported by the Post.
But Gladstone’s ouster is the culmination of years of eviction effort on the part of Valentina Bajada and Heidi Russell, who have owned the two-bedroom pad in the waterfront co-op since 2016, the Post reported.
