Joel Zaldivar is a West Hollywood, California, small-business owner who co-owns the neighborhood gym OPVS. He is a candidate for West Hollywood City Council in the November 2026 election.
Case
Networked automated license-plate cameras can assemble searchable records of vehicle movements. Candidates and officials disagree over whether to ban the systems, keep them with limits, or defend them as investigative tools. This tracker separates outright bans from narrower restrictions.
Role at the time: Candidate for West Hollywood City Council
Statement summary
Joel Zaldivar said he stands firmly against the use of Flock cameras, arguing that privacy should be treated as sacred even though the cameras have helped solve some crimes.
“As for the Flock cameras, I have to stand firmly against their use. Not because they haven’t been found to solve certain crimes in certain cases, but rather on the principle that privacy should be deemed sacred. We’re a community built upon the backs of so many who fought for the right to feel free of government oppression. Our history is filled with members of the LGBTQ+ community and many of our Russian-speaking residents who lived in fear of being surveilled for behavior deemed unlawful, immoral and unjust. Power begets power. We already have cameras in businesses, in city buildings, in public parks and now on our city streets. When will it be enough? We have to set sensible boundaries that don’t intentionally track our everyday lives as we move about the city.”
The reference point is whether networked license-plate cameras such as Flock should exist and be used. Zaldivar says he stands firmly against their use on privacy grounds while granting they have helped solve some crimes. That is opposition to the cameras themselves, not a call for limits, so Condemned fits.
Statement dates: September 3, 2026
Statement dates: September 3, 2026
Statement dates: September 3, 2026
Statement dates: September 3, 2026
