Why Toluca Lake's Street Corners Take Years to Change

It took seven years to get the 16-foot clock outside Chase Bank on Riverside Drive from first sketch to ribbon cutting. Angled parking under the 134 at Forman Avenue has been called "more than a decade in the making." Planning for the Lankershim Boulevard streetscape began in 2012. In each case, a volunteer group had the idea, the design, and in most cases the funding well before anything changed on the street. Most of the time went to waiting for a city or state agency to approve.

That group is Toluca Lake Beautification Partners, or TLBP. It has run for the past decade as an all-volunteer organization, chaired by Ryan Altoon. As of fall 2026, two of its projects are out to bid. Others are still waiting on a city signature, the same kind of wait that slowed the clock.

The Corners You Already Pass

Many of the improvements around the Village came from TLBP, not from a city capital program. TLBP's own records list these:

TLBP also reports resurfacing more than 650 square feet of sidewalk along Riverside Drive. In 2022 it finished a streetscape plan for Riverside Drive from Sancola to Clybourn. That was a planning document. Most of what it proposes has not been built yet.

The ramp project at Cahuenga covered ongoing maintenance as well as the initial planting. The same maintenance partnerships are part of TLBP's current freeway work with Caltrans.

Seven Years for One Clock

The clock shows where the time goes. TLBP came up with the idea in 2018. COVID-19 stalled it. Advocacy from then–City Council President Paul Krekorian restarted it in 2023, and the Board of Public Works approved it in 2024. The clock was unveiled on March 4, 2025.

The clock itself was a known product. It is a Verdin Howard Replica Seth Thomas II with gold accents and hourly chimes. It stands in a widened, drought-tolerant planting bed with two lit seating areas built by Forms + Surfaces. Sater Construction was the general contractor, Cooperative LA handled construction management, and Chase Bank supplied the utilities. The Office of Community Beautification acted as the liaison for the city application. The face reads "Toluca Lake – Established in 1923."

Private founders paid for it. The Platinum contributors were NBCUniversal Comcast, Steve and Sandi Hampar, Armen and Gloria, and the Hampar Family Foundation. Craig Strong, whose team publishes this post, was a Gold contributor. The funding was in place and the design was settled. What moved the project forward after COVID was a councilmember's backing and a Board of Public Works vote.

The Forman Avenue File

Forman Avenue under the 134 shows the same pattern, and that project is still waiting. The Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council's public minutes give a running record:

• February 2018: Angled parking was already under discussion, with Caltrans and City Planning involved.
• May 2019: The planning committee agenda described talks with City Planning and Urban Studio.
• July 2020: Funding for the design firm WRT was approved, and the City Clerk contract was expected to take 90 to 120 days.
• May 2021: The contract was still pending, with the same 90-to-120-day estimate.
• April and May 2022: Minutes reported that calls were not being returned, and then that the City Clerk had made no progress.

The plan is specific. It would take back about 30 feet of extra right-of-way under the freeway, add 30 back-in angled parking spaces, and create a gateway with lighting, public art, and native planting. The partners are Caltrans District 7, the office of Councilmember Adrin Nazarian in Council District 2, TLBP, Cooperative LA, and RELM Landscape. The September 2026 update from Toluca Lake Magazine still describes the parking, sidewalks, lighting, and future mural program as things the project "will add." It gives no construction date. Any finish date you hear for Forman is a guess.

What's Closest to the Street

Two projects have reached bidding, the stage where contractors price the work. Each still needs one more approval.

Cahuenga community garden. This garden would go on a leftover city parcel at the southeast corner of Cahuenga Boulevard and Addison Street, just north of Toluca Lake Elementary. Plans call for raised planters, teaching and seating areas, shade canopies, native plants, and a decorative fence. Bidding has started. It would be TLBP's second garden near the school, ten years after the first one replaced asphalt on the campus.

Vineland Avenue median. The median runs south from Moorpark Street to the 101 Freeway in West Toluca Lake. The project would remove the grass, retrofit the irrigation, and replant with native and drought-tolerant species. RELM Studio has finished the designs and bidding has started. TLBP is also applying to the city's Adopt-A-Median program, which is the step that would formally let work begin. The designs are finished and bidding is underway. The work itself still waits on that program approval.

Freeway ramps. TLBP is also working with Caltrans District 7 on planting, irrigation upgrades, and maintenance partnerships at freeway ramps. The two sources don't fully agree on scope. The magazine's September update names the 101, 134, and 170. TLBP's own State Projects page lists five ramp sites, all on the 101 and 134. The 170 may be a recent addition, or one of the pages may be out of date.

Lankershim, and the Plan Above the Plan

The Lankershim Boulevard streetscape covers 10 blocks, from Riverside Drive south to Cahuenga Boulevard and the L.A. River. The draft calls for upgraded crosswalks, street furniture, planting, lighting, and public art. The brochure is labeled "DRAFT February 2026." TLBP is preparing it with Council District 2 and the Department of City Planning. It is meant to finish a process that began in 2012.

Once the draft is final, it does not go to construction. It goes to City Planning for review and then into the Southeast Valley Community Plan update. That update covers three plan areas, including Sherman Oaks–Studio City–Toluca Lake–Cahuenga Pass, and it ends with a City Council adoption vote. City Planning released draft policy documents for all three plans on January 28, 2026, and was taking feedback when it did. No adoption date or hearing schedule has been published since.

Altoon has described what happens after that approval. "Once the streetscape plans are approved, along with the Southeast Community Plan, TLBP will begin seeking grants and partners to implement improvements to the Riverside Drive and Lankershim Boulevard corridors," he told Toluca Lake Magazine. He listed medians, bulb-outs, pedestrian lighting, and specialty paving. So TLBP's fundraising for Lankershim and Riverside Drive waits on a citywide plan, and the plan waits on a Council vote. The 2022 Riverside Drive plan, the 2026 Lankershim draft, and the bulb-outs people picture on Lankershim all wait on the same approval.

Where Your Input Goes

Because approvals set the pace, public comment matters most at the approval stages. Here is where it can go right now:

1. Lankershim survey. TLBP's Lankershim Blvd Streetscape page links the draft brochure and a survey in English and Spanish. No comment deadline has been published.
2. Direct comments. TLBP takes inquiries at [email protected].
3. The community plan. City Planning's Southeast Valley page is the place to watch for hearings. Its January 2026 call for feedback has not been confirmed as still open.
4. Hands-on work. Altoon has invited residents to join "projects, cleanups and advancement campaigns."

The Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council's planning committee minutes carried the Forman Avenue record from 2018 through 2022, so they are a good place to watch for its next step.

The Craig Strong team helped fund the Village Clock and follows these projects closely. We're glad to talk through how the Vineland, Forman, or Lankershim timelines affect a particular block. Request a confidential market consultation.