On this day in 1968, the New York City Planning Commission holds a public meeting on the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway, which would raze neighborhoods deemed “slums” — what are today SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side — to connect the Holland Tunnel and the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges with an elevated 10-lane highway.

A group of neighbors, who for years have opposed the plan’s disregard for their homes and the area's history, take over the Commission’s stage, tear up the stenographer's notes, and flip tables. Urban planning writer, Jane Jacobs, is arrested for inciting a riot but indicted only for disorderly conduct.

The next year, the Mayor, seeking reelection, cancels the expressway project. Today, those "slums" are some of the most coveted neighborhoods on Earth.