Two signs were recently installed on Orchard Lake Road near Walnut Lake Road in West Bloomfield, Michigan. They read: "Next Mile — Voices for Palestinians." Standard highway signage. White and blue. Official-looking. Because they are official. The Road Commission for Oakland County reviewed the application, approved it, assigned the road segment, and then physically manufactured and installed those signs at no cost to the group.

Walnut Lake Road is where Temple Israel is. It's where at least four other synagogues are. This is not the general vicinity of the Jewish community in Oakland County. This is the road. The specific mile. The one with the synagogues on it. In March 2026, a Hezbollah-affiliated terrorist walked into Temple Israel and attacked it. That congregation, and every Jewish institution in this area, has been living with heightened fear and heightened security ever since.

That's the context in which someone applied for a roadside sign program on this exact stretch of road. And that's the context in which the Road Commission for Oakland County approved it.

Private organizations have the right to advocate for political positions. What's questionable is the role a government agency played in making this happen on this road.

The Adopt-a-Road program is a litter-removal program. Groups apply to sponsor a stretch of road, clean it twice a year, and receive signs crediting their organization. The Road Commission provides the training, the vests, the bags, and the signs themselves — free of charge. It is a civic maintenance program. It was never designed to function as a government-administered platform for political messaging placed in front of religious institutions in a community actively living with the aftermath of a terrorist attack.

A three-member board runs the Road Commission for Oakland County. Road segment assignments require board approval. That means at least two of those three people looked at this application, saw the requested location, and said yes. Or nobody looked at the location at all. Either answer is a serious problem.

There has been no public announcement. No community notice. No statement from the board, from Oakland County, from any elected official in this area. As of today, the signs are up and the silence from every relevant authority is total. This was done quietly, and it's worth asking why.

This isn't a complicated situation. A government agency used a civic program to install political signage on a road lined with synagogues, in a community targeted by terrorism three months ago, without a word to the people who live and worship there. The three-person board that approved it has not explained themselves. The community they serve is waiting.

The RCOC Permits Division can be reached at 248-858-4891 or adoptaroad@rcoc.org. Contact them. Contact your Oakland County commissioners. Ask them who reviewed this application, who approved it, and what they intend to do now that it's public.

Screen shot of an image sent to me. H/T to whoever saw this and publicly called it out.