Surrounded by dirt and covered in sticks and leaves … it is clear a Tesla has been parked on a Kitsilano street for a very long time.
Community members have been left wondering why the car has seemingly been abandoned, saying the vehicle hasn’t moved in months and city tickets keep piling up.
“It’s definitely weathered at the very least … something’s happened to the rims here,” said Jon Smolensky, a nearby resident.
“It feels like some sort of practical joke. If I had the keys to a Tesla, I’d be driving it. It is a Kitsilano special. I can’t quite understand what is happening here.”
Neighbours estimate the car has been parked on West 1st Avenue at Balsam Street since at least September.
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While the seemingly abandoned car is a mystery, the more confusing fact is that it’s a Tesla Model 3 and even the oldest 2017 version starts at $36,000.
“It’s a Tesla… it’s not like somebody dropped an old car from 1975,” said Roxanne Ledan, a Kitsilano resident.
The City of Vancouver said the most recent ticket was issued in January and it was paid. At that time, city officials said they got a call that explained the car’s owner was away and the battery was dead.
The car is now considered abandoned, with the City of Vancouver telling Global News it will be following through on a process that could lead to the vehicle being towed and impounded.
But the city’s own rules say a car is considered abandoned if it is parked for more than 14 days on the street.
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“You’d think at some point this would get towed by the city,” Smolensky said
The Tesla is not the first vehicle left abandoned in an area where parking is a hot commodity. In 2016, Global News reported on a vehicle parked on a west-end street for more than three years before it was towed.
Residents said the Tesla should have been towed long ago.
“We cannot find a parking (space) and this guy’s been parking here forever, where did (the owner) go?” Ledan said.
It remains a mystery with a big price tag.
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