Courtney Mooney is the Urban Design Coordinator for the City of Las Vegas. Her job description includes a knowledge of historic preservation, which is her passion. In this interview she shares her professional and personal thoughts about John S. Park Neighborhood. She moved to John S. Park in 2002. As a professional she explains that "how I look at preserving neighborhoods or buildings, is more of a community preservation, not saving the individual building for the individual building's sake..." Courtney offers a big picture of the neighborhood's past, present and future. John S. Park, like so many other Las Vegas neighborhoods, was built during World War II and has been affected by history of segregation and the wave of changing demographics, and the work that went into the plan and requirements to be designated a historic neighborhood. Courtney provides a summary of the story about the land, its ownership and what lead to the foundation of the neighborhood: from John S. Park to George Franklin and John Law, to Mary Dutton and explains how the proposed development of the land differed from other communities being built to FHA standards and specifics that declared Las Vegas a Defense City in the 1940s. She lists the factors that made the neighborhood a logical and important target for the historic designation, a small neighborhood tucked away, that is "a snapshot of the types of people that were coming here," filled with community leaders, entrepreneurs, blue-collar and casino workers. She also mentions about the missed opportunity of the Las Vegas High School neighborhood for preservation while supporting the John S. Park designation.

Instead of traditional concrete sidewalks, paths in the Ascaya luxury home development are surfaced with rock sourced and crushed on site and affixed with stabilizing agents giving walkways a more natural feel. Infrastructure for Ascaya, carved into the McCullough Mountain range in Henderson, Nevada, was completed with materials mined from the site.

Black and white image of Black Canyon at the site of construction at Hoover Dam. Note: Boulder Dam was officially renamed Hoover Dam in 1947.

Arrangement note: Series V. Glass slidesSite name: Temple Beth Sholom (Las Vegas, Nev.) Site address: 1600 E Oakey Blvd