Mar 31, 2009 7:50 pm US/Eastern
EcoZone: Miami's Red Light Goes Green
The Red Light Restaurant on Biscayne Blvd. At 77th Street
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
"I'll check the traps," Kris Wessel called out as he jumped over a fence into a small wooden barge docked beside his wildlife café that rests along the Little River.
Some consider Wessel as bit of a modern day Huck Finn; enamored with river and intrigued by his neighbors – the manatees. Each day as they approach the culinary hide-a-way, mesmerized patrons applaud the adult female and two younger manatees.
"The funny thing is while people are eating they will come up to the surface almost on cue. It's great because it makes people realize where you are," the towering Wessel told CBS4 Chief Investigative Reporter Michele Gillen.
In fact, many find it difficult to believe where they are. Wessel's restaurant called The Red Light, located on Biscayne Boulevard at 77th Street, is in the heart of what once was Miami's red light district.
"Five years ago you were looking at shopping carts sticking out of the water, drug addicts and prostitutes populating this corner. But the water and the manatees are stronger than all of that, so we've turned the corner on that," said Wessel.
But it wasn't as easy as that. Wessel was relentless in mobilizing effort to clean up the river and is sometimes surprised at how far they've come.
"This is a miracle to see this water actually flowing," said Wessel who's created a culinary haven in the heart of a concrete jungle.
Wessel said he never takes his boots off because he never stops cleaning up for the mammals that changed his life.
"They were always here and when I started building the place I realized there were six to seven hundred pound mammals coming to the surface right below Biscayne Boulevard," a beaming Wessel proudly explained. "Red light is apropos because I want people to stop and look where they are and realize where they are with the manatees, with the birds and with good food."
As for guests who want to feed the manatees, Wessel said that is a definite 'no'.
"You don't feed them, you don't touch them," said Wessel. "They are in their ecosystem, they are looking for grass. What you can do is clean up the banks of the river so the grass can grow and the sunlight can get to the grass. They are vegetarians and that's what they are looking for and when bicycles and shopping carts muck up the bank, they can't find grass."
Steps from the river, his thoughts turn from feeding the manatees to man. He's in his element cooking up dishes of fresh local fish and fare....many with a New Orleans touch.
"People eating here and looking at this eco system is actually protecting it because it is bringing awareness to it," said Wessel.
Last weekend, the restaurant joined ranks with millions around the world and shut off The Red Light's lights for Earth Hour; all the dining was by candle light.
Click Here to make reservations at The Red Light.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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