When celebrated singer-actress Bette Midler speaks, her words resonate with the passion of a true protector of the urban environment. In a recent sit-down with E! News, she opened up about what truly inspired her to start the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), a heartfelt venture born from one simple act that would grow into something profoundly meaningful.
When she returned to New York in the mid-1990s, Midler was confronted by neglect, a city suffering from pollution, litter, and a scarcity of green spaces. She began picking up trash along the desolate stretches of the West Side Highway, an act that sparked both recognition and a calling.
That humble gesture of caring for a bit of urban ground eventually blossomed into a vision of creating beautiful, accessible, and sustainable green spaces across New York City’s underserved neighbourhoods. In 1995, she brought that vision to life by founding the New York Restoration Project.
From its inception, NYRP carved out a unique role as the only citywide conservancy bringing private-sector funding to neglected parks, gardens, and green areas across all five boroughs. Early projects included restoring sites like Highbridge Park, Fort Washington Park, Fort Tryon Park, and Roberto Clemente State Park.
When New York City planned to auction off 114 community gardens for development in 1999, Midler and NYRP led a coalition to save those critical communal spaces, ultimately taking ownership of 52 of the most vulnerable plots. In 2007, NYRP partnered with NYC’s MillionTreesNYC campaign, contributing to the ambitious effort of planting one million trees by 2015.
Their impact extended beyond planting. NYRP began offering environmental education programs in underserved schools, emphasising the importance of cultivating both land and knowledge. NYRP’s impact also flourished through creative and inclusive designs, like Fannie’s Garden in the Bronx’s Morrisania neighbourhood. The 13,000-square-foot space offers a vegetable garden, pavilion with solar considerations, wheelchair-accessible raised beds, a chicken coop, event deck, and rainwater collection system. Designed pro bono by Sawyer | Berson, the garden is a dynamic community hub where environment meets equity.
Midler’s environmental leadership hasn’t gone unnoticed. She has received numerous honours:
- 2002 Governor’s Award for Parks and Preservation
- Honorary membership of the American Society of Landscape Architects (2005)
- National Audubon Society’s Rachel Carson Award (2008)
- Rockefeller Foundation’s Jane Jacobs Medal (2013)
In addition, NYRP’s annual Hulaween benefit, a festive Halloween party hosted by Midler, brings visibility and funds to the cause. The 2019 event, aptly themed “Haunted Hollywood,” featured performances and awards for environmental champions, blending celebration with support for urban greening.
At its core, NYRP is about more than parks, it’s a belief in nature as a fundamental right for every New Yorker, regardless of neighbourhood or ZIP code. As Midler herself puts it: gardens give people hands-on access to growing food, foster community, and bridge urban food deserts with green empowerment.
Bette Midler’s motivation for launching NYRP is heartfelt and simple: as she once said, she couldn’t stand to see the city she loved wasted and overgrown, so she picked up a bag of trash. From that act of love grew a green movement dedicated to restoring hope, beauty, and community to New York City.
