Skip to main content

True Tales From Parks and Recreation - Banners of Destruction


Note: I used to work for a park slowly in continued development in Manhattan that is five miles along the waterfront of the Hudson River. As a Public Programs Coordinator, yours truly handled anything public related in regards to permitting (athletic facilities, film shoots, photo shoots, weddings, and other small gatherings), and of course, dealing with any questions or inquiries from the public. The following series will present stories, e-mails, phone calls, conversations, interactions, and sights I've seen from the people of New York City in regards to a public park. And yes, these are all real! And are all true!

Welcome to another little snippet of Parks and Recreation.

The craziness that is Parks and Recreation unfortunately does not only lend itself to the dealings with the public. As already seen by the hit show on NBC obviously named, Parks and Recreation, the employees and happenings inside the offices are just as weird, just as cooky, and just as head scratching.

Our department met once a week to discuss the several things that were on our agendas which ranged from events, complaints, repairs, or marketing and advertising strategies. As usual with any business meeting that gets the creative juices going, we sometimes get off topic from the topics we wanted to attend address. At this meeting, the topic of the newly built lunch room for employees and Park Enforcement officers came up.

One person decided to bring up possible ways to use our old banners to decorate but also raise morale in the lunch room. Though it sounded like an awesome idea, another person (I'm keeping their titles anonymous for obvious reasons) had serious concerns that the walls in the room would not be able to sustain the banners. And this argument and concern went on for five to ten minutes, which any professional would know, is an eternity just sitting there around a conference table with no where to go. 

So yes, just in case your eyebrows are arched in curiosity as much as mine were during that squabble, there was serious concern that multiple banners hung on concrete walls would somehow cause so much destruction, that the entire office, built on a pier) would crash into the Hudson River. Far fetched? Absolutely, but that's Parks and Recreation for you.

Recent Favorites

Quick Ponder: Free and Guarded

Stay free. But keep the gate to  your peace, guarded.

WWE Wrestlemania XL Review: "I absolutely loved this Wrestlemania"

It's easy to get caught up and become a prisoner of the moment. Especially in today's world where the latest moment is ostracized, super-analyzed, and hyperbolized - it's very much the clickbait, social media, microwave society we live in.  Yet, even after acknowledging that (as well as my Tribal Chief, of course), I still come to this feeling that Wrestlemania XL is one of the best Wrestlemania's, ever.  Yes, ever!  I don't need Triple H's metrics and benchmarks to influence me. No, no, no! In terms of hype, storylines, payoffs, match quality, and just overall fun - this entire weekend was amazing.  I'm slightly skewed in my preference as well. This was my son's first Wrestlemania as a pro wrestling fan. Having him at my side cheering on his favorites, getting caught up in the drama, and even crying at the end of the night because his Tribal Chief lost to "that no good Cody" added to the overall appreciation of the event.  So yeah, I have some

NXT Stand and Deliver 2024 Review: 'For super casual NXT fans like me - no complaints here'

It's become officially a tradition that NXT Stand and Deliver makes Wrestlemania weekend feel like the ultimate wrestling weekend - as if it isn't already. There is just something about a major show being held midday on a Saturday, among the hype for the already dual night of Wrestlemania - that just emanates and screams - wrestling fans, don't go anywhere all weekend.   Nonetheless, NXT Stand and Deliver 2024 for this super causal NXT viewer was entertaining. I was well aware (and followed) the story of Trick Williams and Carmelo Hayes (more on that in a bit) more so than the other happenings, but that didn't matter. The show offered many reasons to check out Shawn Michaels' project on Tuesday nights.  With that said, here are some quick thoughts on NXT Stand and Deliver 2024:  - Baron Corbin is amazing on the NXT brand. For many reasons, he just never clicked for me on the major brands - and that very likely might not even be his fault. I didn't think Axiom an