Boyd alumnus Zachary Conine ‘13, group co-founder of Build A Better Las Vegas, was spotlighted in two June 17 articles about the Strong Cities, Strong Communities Challenge implemented in 2011. The national competition, a White House urban planning initiative backed by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, awarded federal grant money to selected community revitalization projects.
In the Las Vegas Review-Journal article titled “Vegas city council to choose top redevelopment projects,” Conine’s group authored the grand prize-winning project that would see the home of the Las Vegas 51s transformed into the Nevada nerve center for the growing drone industry. The group was one of several awarded grant money.
The article read: “’We really started a business because of this whole thing,’ group co-founder Zach Conine told council members after accepting a $500,000 federal grant to get the project off the ground. ‘We realized this (project) could work anywhere, but what made Las Vegas perfect is there’s a massive amount of state support, with Creech and Nellis (Air Force bases) just up the road.’”
The Las Vegas Sun article, titled “Plan to convert Cashman Center into drone testing site earns national honors,” focused more on Conine’s Build A Better Las Vegas group’s plans.
The article read: “’Build a Better Las Vegas’ plan calls for establishing a fly zone for drone testing, a canopied area that would cover what is now the baseball field at the 31-acre complex, as well as new spaces for offices and a new corridor that would include the existing Neon Museum, a space and science museum and relocation of the natural history museum. Cashman would become the Unmanned Aerial Robotics Resource Center under the proposal.’”
