Jane Jacobs vs. the Lower Manhattan Expressway (1960s)
Planner Robert Moses proposed an elevated expressway slicing through Greenwich Village and SoHo. Residents led by writer Jane Jacobs fought the plan at public hearings and in the streets.
New York abandoned the project in 1969.
The fight became a landmark case of community input shaping urban decisions and helped cement public hearings as a check on development.
The Dallas hearing is the same mechanism: residents get a formal moment to shape what gets built. Whether their testimony changes the outcome is the open question.
