I know, you’re thinking “just what does the Mayor of Detroit have against ‘Spetters’?” Alas, it’s a slightly more contemporary work of Veerhoven’s that fails to get Dave Bing’s thumbs up, as the Detroit News reports ;
The city, which is well-known for its statues of Joe Louis’ fist and the Spirit of Detroit, has no plans to follow suit with a memorial to the futuristic, robotic crime-fighter, Mayor Dave Bing wrote via Twitter on Monday
Bing rebuffed a suggestion from a follower that Detroit take a cue from Philadelphia, which erected a statue in honor of “Rocky.
A Facebook page was created Monday to build a statue of the fictional character. By Tuesday afternoon, it had nearly 700 fans.
“Look at it this way; the city has wasted truckloads of money on various things that have resulted in NOTHING for the people. Embezzlement for one… if money is going to be wasted on frivolous things, why not something that would at least make this (currently) depressing place semi-fun?” wrote Aaron Aitken on the site.
Much as I like the idea of a Robocop statue, I would probably side with the uncredited News scribe who cites prior (failed) efforts to “immortalize better known Detroit icons”. But keep in mind, in the pre-Kickstarter era, a Timmy Vulgar statue was probably much tougher to finance.
I’ll go ahead and disagree. I’ve live on the east coast, but have made many spots in Detroit over the last few years, and every time I do I say to myself “Man it really does feel like Robocop here” and all the people I know who live there laugh and agree. What better way for Detroit to show they have an eye on the future? A ridiculous Eminem Superbowl Chrysler commercial or erecting a statue of Peter Weller as Robocop? Do the right thing Detroit, Robocop is your friend and worth the money.