A pair of Adopt-A-Road signs showing support for Palestinians have been removed less than a week after being installed following concerns from West Bloomfield community members and Oakland County officials.<\/p>\n
The sign includes the group name \u201cVoices for Palestinians\u201d which were recently put up on Orchard Lake Road, between Maple and Walnut Lake roads in West Bloomfield, only a few miles from Temple Israel, site of what the FBI said was an act of terrorism back in March.<\/p>\n
The sign was requested by West Bloomfield resident Shahaboddin Owlia, Road Commission spokesman Craig Bryson told The Detroit News.<\/p>\n
On March 12 a man drove a Ford F-150 loaded with commercial-grade fireworks and roughly 35 gallons of gasoline 200 feet into a hallway and within minutes burst into flames. The man died after a confrontation with security guards.<\/p>\n
The signs were approved by the Oakland County Road Commission in November 2025.<\/p>\n
According to Road Commission spokesman Craig Bryson, the signs had not even been up for a week when the commission and the County Executive\u2019s office began receiving complaints over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first that we heard about it was through the County Executive\u2019s office on Sunday,\u201d said Bryson. \u201cPeople had also logged complaints with us online over the weekend, but we did not check those until Monday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bryson said the road commission is reviewing concerns voiced about the signs and may address the issue at their next regular meeting on June 25. The signs will remain off the roadside until a final decision has been made.<\/p>\n
Bryson told the News that road commission is reviewing its Adopt-A-Road program with its legal counsel, including whether the First Amendment plays a role in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 50-year history of this program, we\u2019ve never had an issue like this before. So, we\u2019re in uncharted territory here,\u201d said Bryson. \u201c(Road commission) staff is currently gathering information and putting information together for the board. The board will receive that information and have an initial discussion, possibly at their next meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a social media post, West Bloomfield Township said this is a \u201chighly sensitive location,\u201d and that placement of the sign has generated \u201csignificant concern and emotional reactions\u201d in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWest Bloomfield is home to one of Michigan\u2019s largest and most vibrant Jewish communities,\u201d the message said in part. \u201cThese concerns are understandably heightened given the ongoing anxiety many residents continue to feel. Our nation and community are built upon fundamental constitutional protections, including freedom of speech and expression, but also common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement released on Sunday, Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter addressed the controversy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe placement of a \u2018Voices for Palestinians\u2019 Adopt-A-Road placard in the heart of Oakland County\u2019s Jewish community, near the site of a recent synagogue attack, is deeply troubling and understandably painful for many of our Jewish neighbors,\u201d Coulter said. \u201cAt a time when members of the Jewish community are already experiencing heightened fear and concern, placing such a message in that location appears to disregard the impact it would have and risks being perceived as an act of provocation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Adopt-A-Road program asks volunteers to pick up litter along a stretch of roadway during two of three scheduled cleanup periods each year. In return, the commission places road signs at both ends of a designated section to recognize volunteer groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of Adopt-A-Road signs showing support for Palestinians have been removed less than a week after being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144,148026],"class_list":["post-364642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-palestine-israel-adopt-a-road"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}