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 finally stepped in, ordering the business to stop the music.
“It was painful,” said Bruce Gaylord, who lives at the encampment. “That’s how loud it was. Rock concert loud. 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.
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“I stopped to get medications for mental illness from Barstow, California, and my truck was stolen there,” he said.
Gaylord says music started playing loudly overnight Friday from the business East Bay Tire Co. at 773 Lincoln Ave.
He said he called police and they did nothing, so he decided to call homeless advocate Robbie Powelson, who came down to the encampment to start documenting it.
“We took a decibel reading of the sound. We measured that the decibels were between 50-118 decibels. In general, it was far 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 business to stop playing the music immediately.
Powelson says the tire company has said the music was coming from a security system that’s right 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 are trying to do. They say that we haven’t been good neighbors to them, but they didn’t come up with any police reports,” Gaylord said.
Powelson says they have another court hearing for the music order late next month.
The music stopping may have been a win for 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, the people living at the encampment would be kicked off the property.
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