Tesla Showroom In San Francisco Hasn't Had Proper Permits Since 2016, But That Might Not Be Tesla's Fault

As a company, Tesla doesn't exactly have the best track record of following the rules. Despite originally selling himself as someone trying to do good for the environment, CEO Elon Musk hates environmental regulations and has a long track record of taking more of an "make me" approach any time someone tells him what to do. So when you hear the Tesla showroom in San Francisco has been operating without the necessary permit since 2016, it's understandable that most people would assume that was because Elon didn't feel like filling out the paperwork. In this case, though, it was actually most likely the city's fault, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A Chronicle review of the Department of Building Inspection's permit-tracking system found that city inspectors showed up multiple times while workers were still in the process of completing the $2.3 million renovation, but there was no record of a final inspection being performed, and it appears the city simply never got around to it. Nearly a decade later, after the Chronicle reached out for a statement, a DBI spokesperson said the city would finally require the building to pass a final inspection, calling the failure to do so until now an "oversight." But while the building may not be considered officially compliant just yet, because it's an auto showroom, it should be able to stay open until the paperwork gets sorted out.

Letting a company renovate a building and then operate for nearly a decade without ever doing a final inspection sounds bad, but the bribery and fraud in the department that the FBI found during a corruption investigation into City Hall was definitely much worse. And while the criminality is definitely the main story here, you would have thought disgraced building inspector Bernard Curran would have at least made more money off the whole deal. If you're going to take bribes from wealthy developers and real estate investors in one of the most expensive cities in the country, at the very least, demand more than the change their housekeeper found in their couch over the weekend. You deserve to be properly compensated for your labor, even if your labor is corruption.

Supervisor Myrna Melgar also told the Chronicle that the fact this oversight went unnoticed for so long can partially be blamed on the department's ancient permit tracking system, which doesn't keep track of permit deadlines or alert employees when permits expire. The city attempted to implement a new system back in 2011, but despite the project going millions of dollars over budget, nothing ever came of it. Accela, the software company contracted to build the new permit tracking system, may deserve some of the blame, but the DBI also reportedly kept changing the scope of the project, along with its requirements. That also may have been intentional, with Commissioner Debra Walker telling the Chronicle at the time, "There is a concerted effort to perpetuate the culture of favoritism."  A new system is reportedly in the works, but it isn't up and running just yet.

While wealthy developers may have been able to throw around enough money to turn San Francisco's permitting process into a labyrinth only they can afford to navigate while also getting in the way of any attempts to modernize, that doesn't mean there weren't any red flags with the renovation. The work was overseen by John Pollard, a contractor the city placed on its Expanded Compliance Control program's list of people in construction and real estate who have a track record of ignoring code requirements. That doesn't necessarily mean inspectors will find any issues with the showroom, but it does suggest they need to look at things a little more closely than they may have otherwise. 

The good news is, it appears the renovation focused almost entirely on the interior of the building, so any protesters on the street should be perfectly safe. The building also probably won't collapse on you if you do go inside, but there are plenty of other reasons you shouldn't do that. You know, like the CEO doing his best to eliminate any and all regulations while also being an out and proud bigot who uses the value of his Tesla stock to finance his effective takeover of the federal government. Plus there was also that salute that sure looked like the one the Nazis used to do. So while the showroom's lack of a proper permit is a problem, it's probably better to focus on all the other bad stuff Tesla's CEO is doing. Well, that, and supporting local politicians who are willing to take on wealthy developers and real estate investors. After all, it shouldn't be harder to get a permit to renovate your bathroom than it is for a developer to get a new shopping center approved.