New York, June 14 – “This is probably the first time Robert De Niro, Glenn Close and Bette Midler have been to El Barrio”, we sniffed upon arriving on East 114th Street for New York Restoration Project’s spring picnic.

We eyed the shiny Rolls Royces and Mercedes Benz’s lining the street, nodding and harumphing. And then we looked up and noticed that we were right next to Rao’s, the famous East Harlem restaurant where you have to be, like, Robert De Niro to get a reservation for five months from now, and we realized that these movie stars are probably here all the time. And we’re not. Anyway, Midler continues her greening of New York, this time opening two community gardens, bringing some soft green space to East Harlem.

So convenient that the folks who are broke after paying their $3,000+ per month rent on the marble-bath-laden apartments being developed above Rao’s can save money by growing their own vegetables practically next door.