Parks and Recreation

Hello. Hi.

My name is Leslie Knope, and I work for the Parks and Recreation Department.

Can I ask you a few questions?

Would you say that you are,

"Enjoying yourself and having fun,"

"having a moderate amount of fun"

"and somewhat enjoying yourself,"

"or having no fun and no enjoyment?"

I'm gonna put a lot of fun.

Ms. Knope, there's a drunk stuck in the slide.

Sir, this is a children's slide.

You're not allowed to sleep in here. MAN: What is?

You know, when I first tell people

that I work in the government, they say,

"Oh. The government. The government stinks."

"The lines are too long at the DMV."

But now things have changed.

People need our help.

And it feels good to be needed.

Could you put your arms to your side?

Wait...

And that might help you slide down a little easier.

We don't... Do you want to come this way?

Uh-uh. Okay, we're gonna need you to get out.

Can you please go away?

Get out of the slide. Okay?

You're... Can you please go away? Here we go!

Okay, wake up. Here we go. Out of the slide.

You know, government isn't just a boys' club anymore.

Women are everywhere. It's a great time to be a woman in politics.

Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, me, Nancy Pelosi.

We did it!

You know, I like to tell people, you know,

"Get on board and buckle up,"

"because my ride's gonna be a big one."

And if you get motion sickness, you know,

put your head between your knees

'cause Leslie Knope's stopping for no one.

Tonight is our next monthly

community outreach public forum.

And that is tonight.

That is tonight. Right.

Leslie will be running it.

And we need one more.

Who wants in?

Tom.

Fine.

This is a great thing for you guys to see.

This is where the rubber of government

meets the road of actual human beings.

When I go through these doors, I need to be on.

Like the White House Press Secretary. Are you ready?

Yeah. Okay.

Here we go.

It's locked.

Okay. Here we go.

Thank you so much for coming. What an amazing turnout.

My name is Leslie Knope.

I am the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department,

and tonight we're gonna be taking some of your questions as... Hello?

We're having a meeting in here.

Does anybody have any questions about permits?

So, take two.

I'm Leslie Knope, and with me is department member Tom Haverford.

We are here to answer any and all of your questions, so fire away.

Well, it's a great day, because last month they put me in jail.

That's right. The head of the police is a ninth-degree Mason.

But the music is so loud.

Stop the graffiti, please. Please.

I don't like obscenities just as much as you don't like them.

No, it drives me crazy. I have kids.

Right. But...

I've got my little three-year-old,

I'm going through the park and someone's like,

"Hey my "

And the guy's, "You my , you head."

These people are members of a community

that care about where they live,

so what I hear when I'm being yelled at

is people caring loudly at me.

Now, I have a few things I want to say about Laura Linney.

Thank you so much, Barry. Always great to have you here.

Anyone else who would like to contribute?

Hi. Hi, hi.

Hi. I'm Ann Perkins.

I'm a nurse, and frankly, I don't really care for politics,

but I'm here to talk about the abandoned lot on Sullivan Street.

Excellent. That sounds like a good idea. Tell us about that.

No, it's a problem. It almost killed my boyfriend.

Oh. Yeah.

There's a lot nearby my house,

and a developer dug out a basement for some condos,

and then they went bankrupt,

so there's just this giant pit,

and it's been there for almost a year.

Twelve months, yes. Go on.

Yeah, and my boyfriend, who is a musician, actually, I support him,

but anyway, he fell in and broke both his legs.

Ann, let me speak with you for a minute.

So, your boyfriend fell down into this pit, right?

Yes.

And, this guy, is it pretty serious? Are you guys living together?

Yes. Wow,

I'm sure this must be really tough for you.

You know, just, this guy, sounds like he didn't have a lot going on for him

to start with, and now both legs broken.

He's just weak. You have to take care of him.

You probably feel like you need to move on.

What does this... Just become more adventurous

in relationships with your body, just in...

Are you actually hitting on me right now?

Oh. Oh. God, no. I'm not hitting on you. I'm actually married.

I'm just an open person, and I like connecting with people.

I'm, you know, very comfortable around women, attractive women.

I've spent a lot of time with them. And I just... I don't know.

I feel like we might be taking up too much of the forum's time.

Maybe we can just exchange numbers.

You know, maybe go away one weekend and just kind of talk about this.

Look... I'd love to do it.

The bottom line is I've been trying to get this thing fixed for months,

and nobody's done anything, and it's ugly, and it's dangerous,

and it's government-owned,

and you need to do something about it.

Okay.

I'll do something about it. Really?

Yes, we... I will help you.

Is that a promise?

It's more than a promise. It's a pinky promise.

I pinky promise all of you that I will help,

and I will go to that location tomorrow,

and we will fill in that pit,

and then when that's done, we're gonna put a park on the land.

Okay.

Well, I've worked at the Parks Department for six years,

and I've handled a lot of things that I'm proud of.

Recently, I led a city-wide drive

to disinfect the sandbox sand

after we had those problems with the cats.

But this pit,

the chance to build a whole new park from scratch,

this could be my Hoover Dam.

No, that sounds great.

Problem is, anything over $25 I have to report,

so maybe give my wife a call and give her the suits,

and then if they don't fit her, maybe she'll give them to me.

Morning.

All right, Mr. Mayor. That sounds good.

I'll see you on Saturday for the Ultimate Frisbee game.

Bye.

Leslie, hello.

You were talking to the mayor?

Yep, we were just rapping about some things.

Tom and I work really well together. We're both outsiders.

I'm a woman, he's a... I think he's a Libyan.

I am from Bennettsville, South Carolina.

I am what you might call a redneck.

Okay, brainstorm. How do we make this park happen?

Let's go to the city council directly

and ask them to put up the money.

No, parks are not a priority.

I need more firepower. I need bigger guns.

You know what I need to do? Form a committee. Right?

Yeah, that could work. Yeah, 'cause committees are power,

and committees make things happen.

Committees are the lifeblood of our democratic system.

That's really good. Write that down.

Yep.

From time to time, when I think of an eloquent saying or a phrase,

I have Tom write it down.

He's collecting them for my memoirs.

Here's Leslie's quote from Wednesday.

Okay, read it back to me.

Um...

"Committees cover our democracy with blood."

Hmm.

Sounded better when I said it.

It's still good, though.

Okay, I have an idea. What about bringing Mark on board?

Which Mark? Which Mark?

Mark Brendanawicz. Which Mark?

Well, if you want something done in this town,

you call Mark Brendanawicz

because, you know, he's a city planner, but he's more than that.

He's kind of like a fixer. He fixes things.

He's a smart, capable guy.

He just... He knows where the bodies are buried.

What's up, Brendanawicz? You crazy old Polish person.

City Hall is like a locker room, and you gotta get in there,

and you gotta snap towels at people,

and you gotta give them the business, and if you can't take it,

you know, you... Then you can't take it.

You gotta leave the locker room.

Let's get down to brass tacks.

I know you don't have a lot of time

and I want to thank you for meeting me today.

I just work right there.

Well, thank you for clearing your schedule.

I didn't clear anything.

You know this lot that I'm talking about, right?

Yeah, Lot 48.