Homeless Man Triumphs in Loud Music Battle against Tire Giant

In the city of San Rafael, California, a homeless man named Bruce Gaylord has successfully led a legal battle against a local tire company, East Bay Tire Company, that has allegedly been tormenting local residents of a homeless encampment with ear-splitting levels of classical music.

Gaylord, who has been living at the encampment since last year following the theft of his truck during a medication stop in Barstow, shared his distress with KGO-TV, “The first night, I got to bed at 1 a.m.. The second night, I got no sleep during the night. And the third night, Sunday night, I had no way to get any sleep.”

He further emphasized his plight with, “I’m just a person who has schizoaffective disorder and mental illness.”

The homeless encampment is located adjacent to the East Bay Tire Company premises on Lincoln Ave. According to Gaylord, the company recently initiated the practice of blasting classical music, loud enough to be compared to a rock concert, with the intent to drive the homeless residents away.

“It was painful,” he recounted. “That’s how loud it was. Rock concert loud.”

Gaylord’s pleas for police intervention were fruitless, prompting him to seek out the help of homeless advocate Robbie Powelson. Powelson visited the encampment to measure the music’s volume himself, an action which led to a lawsuit against the tire company.

“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 reported to KRON-TV.

The filed lawsuit resulted in a judge ordering a temporary halt to the tire company’s music broadcasts.

East Bay Tire assistant manager Robbie Derho shared with KGO that the company had implemented the music and security announcements not to harass the homeless, but as a protective measure for their employees. He cited concerns over inappropriate behavior spilling over from the encampment, including illicit drug use and prostitution.

Derho also detailed the damage caused to the company’s property, such as trash, broken glass and even gunfire damage, which the employees have to deal with regularly.

However, Gaylord refuted these claims, stating that the company was unable to provide any police reports to substantiate their allegations about the homeless residents being “bad neighbors.” He remains determined to press on with the lawsuit to protect his fellow encampment dwellers.

Gaylord, a schizoaffective disorder and mental illness sufferer, who is also wheelchair-bound, stated, “I’m just a person who has schizoaffective disorder and mental illness.”

Despite gaining a temporary respite from the loud music, the future of the homeless encampment hangs in uncertainty. A separate lawsuit could result in it being dismantled if the verdict favors the city.

Watch a local news report about the incident below:

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