Business near San Rafael encampment ordered to stop loud music

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (KRON) – People who live in an encampment in San Rafael say music was playing loudly three nights in a row from a nearby business. A federal judge eventually intervened, ordering the company to stop the music.

“It was painful,” said Bruce Gaylord, who lives at the encampment. “That’s how loud it was. Loud rock concert. The second and third night I couldn’t sleep at all.

Gaylord moved into this San Rafael encampment last year following a series of unfortunate events.

“I stopped to get mental illness medication in Barstow, California, and my truck was stolen there,” he said.

Gaylord says music started playing loudly Friday night at the East Bay Tire Co.

He said he called the police and they did nothing, so he decided to call homeless advocate Robbie Powelson, who came to the encampment to begin documenting the case.

“We measured sound in decibels. We measured the decibels to be between 50 and 118 decibels. In general, it was well above the San Rafael noise ordinance, so it was illegal,” Powelson said.

On Monday, Powelson filed for a restraining order against Easy Bay Tire Co. A judge ordered the company to immediately stop playing the music.

Powelson says the tire manufacturer said the music was coming from a security system located just along the fence facing the encampment. KRON4 reached out to East Bay Tire Co., but they did not respond to our request for comment.

“It’s ridiculous what they’re trying to do.” They say we haven’t been good neighbors to them, but they haven’t filed any police reports,” Gaylord said.

Powelson says they will have another court hearing for the music order at the end of next month.

Stopping the music may have been a victory for the members of this encampment, but they are still fighting the city to stay where they are. On June 24 there will be another hearing in federal court against the city. If San Rafael wins, people living in the encampment will be evicted from the property.