North Avenue welcome sign moving west a block

People entering Tosa's east side will once again see a welcome sign surrounded by cheerful flowers and landscaping thanks to the Wauwatosa Beautification Committee.

A Welcome to Wauwatosa sign at 60th Street and North Avenue was destroyed in late December after a truck driver got distracted and his vehicle crashed. It's the second time the sign has been destroyed, and this time the committee has decided to move the sign to a space provided on a dentist's office property at 61st Street.

The sign that will now be at 61st and North used to be at 122nd Street and Bluemound Road, and had been taken down because of road construction there, Vice President Marge Donegan said.

"A new sign will be fabricated and paid for by the Wauwatosa Beautification Committee for the Bluemound location after road improvement is completed," she said.

The committee already has purchased 11 signs - at a total cost of about $27,500 - and donated them to the city. Nine still exist.

Funding comes in large part from the Secret Gardens of Wauwatosa Tour, which will be held this year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday starting at the Kneeland-Walker House, 7406 Hillcrest Drive.

The Wauwatosa Beautification Committee has a savings account dedicated to maintenance of the signs, which includes repainting them every four years and/or replacing them, Donegan said. The committee has replaced two signs due to traffic accidents.

The committee paid for a garden bed to built around the North Avenue sign, and the site counts as one of nearly 130 planted and maintained on public property by the committee's Gardening Angels. City workers water the gardens.

The surviving planter from the 60th and North accident has been relocated to the Wauwatosa Public Library entrance. Meanwhile three planters from 61st and North will be switched to 60th Street so the entrance to the city will continue to be beautified, Donegan said.