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State Representative Liz Malia Arrested at 'Eviction Blockade' on Mendell Way

Heather Gordon's 3 Mendell Way home has been in foreclosure since 2008.

UPDATE, Thursday 4:04 p.m. — State Representative Liz Malia, D-Boston, has apparently been arrested for her role in the eviction blockade, according to Twitter user Deborah Sirotkin Butler.

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A JP woman plans to fight eviction from her Mendell Way home this morning.

Longtime resident Heather Gordon, who is active with the anti-displacement group City Life/Vida Urbana, is expected to face another eviction push from her bank. An "eviction blockade" is expected between 8:30 am and 10 a.m., according to an email from City Life.

Gordon's Mendell Way home has been in foreclosure since 2008. When Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren visited JP in March, Gordon was among those who told Warren their stories.

Gordon said she has lived in the Medell Way home since 1992. She started having trouble paying her mortgage after losing her job at JP Morgan Chase. With help from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission she got disability benefits from the company. Since then she has gone through multiple bankruptcies. Her mortgage rates have gone as high as 22 percent, she said at the March meeting.

The home, which backs up to the Mendell School, was in bad shape when she bought it, she said. It had been taken over by vandals and was used to deal drugs, she said. She cleaned up the property.

"Now it's desirable to outsiders," Gordon said at the time.

Warren held hands with Gordon as she told part of her tale during the meeting, which was held at Ula Cafe. At the end, Warren said reforms like putting all crucial mortgage information on a simple 2-page form would have prevented a lot of bad mortgages.

"They tricked you," Warren said to Gordon. Warren said the form would boil down essentials so that consumers could not only compare mortgage offers, but also check to make sure that the deal they were promised is the one being signed.

The Gazette wrote about a previous "eviction blockade" at the home in April.

Related Topics: City Life/Vida Urbana, Foreclosure, Gentrification, Heather Gordon, Real Estate, and eviction

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