Did Philadelphia avoid potential disaster by keeping Tesla Solar out of the city? City officials, pressured by the powerful building trades council headed by electrical workers’ Local 98 business manager John Dougherty, wouldn’t let nonunion Tesla in, said Ernani Falcone, a former energy adviser to Tesla. City officials “wanted a union shop. And Tesla was not. So it was impossible, we were not able to do anything in Philadelphia,” said Falcone, who said he routinely put in 75-hour weeks promoting Tesla Solar to suburban clients before he was laid off in general cutbacks in January.