Tompkins Square Park, located in the East Village in Manhattan, has long been a sight the locals associate with politics and activism. There were anti-war protests there in the sixties, and in the eighties it became a de facto homeless camp and was ripe with drug problems. In 1988, the cops came in and tried to oust the homeless that were living there. This resulted in a now fairly infamous riot, clips of which did wind up on newscasts around the New York City area. When it was a...