Moving the Historic Westside forward: Inside efforts to revitalize Las Vegas' historically Black community

KTNV Las Vegas
by Justin Hinton

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's an area rich with history and culture — and one where community needs have largely been ignored until recent years.

We're talking about Las Vegas' Historic Westside, which has been the target of a revitalization effort since 2016.

The master plan known as the HUNDRED Plan (short for Historic Urban Neighborhood Redevelopment Plan) is now well underway in the community. It sits in Ward 5, so Councilman Cedric Crear has spearheaded a lot of the plan.

When asked why it’s taken so long to develop, he said this:

“Well, you can speculate on a lot of reasons why we haven't had that development, but our time is now, and I'd rather focus on where we are now moving forward."

As far as moving forward, a lot has been tackled so far.

At James Gay Park, for example, it’s hard to miss the two shipping containers sitting on the property.

Inside, Ron Voight and Tom Blount of Agricology Solution Services have grown food to give to the community for free.

Blount says they can produce 80 pounds of food every couple of weeks. Collard greens are the most popular and make up about 60 percent of the crop.

“That's what the community wants. That's their number one that they need, so that's what we give them,” he said.
Blount said basil makes up about 15 percent, parsley makes up 10 and cilantro, green beans and sugar snap peas make up about 5 percent each.

Crear says planning will take place in 2024 to create some sort of farmer’s market and then long term, there will be a co-op grocery store.

The HUNDRED Plan doesn’t end there, with each new idea and project leading to another one.

The COX Communication Innovation Center, for example, provides space for local youth to prepare for a future in STEM. Crear says there will also be esports tournaments.

Next door, they’re working on a partnership with the College of Southern Nevada to build a workforce development center with a groundbreaking set for April.

“That's a 15,000-square-foot workforce development center that is going to get our community ready, trained, prepared to go to work in construction, manufacturing, information technology, also to help healthcare fields,” Crear said.
Across the street, they’re looking at workforce housing with 140 units.

Then, there’s bringing music venues and restaurants to the area, along with establishing complete and safe streets for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

“I think when it's all said and done, we'll have $200 to $300 million invested into the community — whether that is from private resources, philanthropy, business investments that are taking place, city investments that are taking place and others — and so we are really putting a lot of emphasis into the Historic Westside,” Crear said.