Hoalohanani blog

RoboCop statue reaches funding goal

Detroit News staff report

Like it or hate it, a RoboCop statue soon could be coming to Detroit.

Tuesday evening, organizers met their goal of raising $50,000, just six days after the whimsical campaign began.

Pete Hottelet, an Oakland, Calif., advertising entrepreneur, pushed the campaign to its goal, donating $25,000 online. The 32-year-old said he saw the effort as an opportunity to help Detroit.

"Detroit has an amazing history, and it's one of those places where something like this fits in."

The average contribution, from 1,500 people, was about $17, according to Corktown resident Jerry Paffendorf, one of the RoboCop campaign leaders.

By 11 a.m. Wednesday, the campaign had raised $50,626 and there's still 38 days to go, according to the kickstarter.com, the website that was used to raise funds.

"People were really interested in making something happen in Detroit," Paffendorf said.

The statue of the half-man, half-cyborg crime fighter immortalized in a 1987 movie would appear on privately owned land near the Michigan Central Depot downtown.

The initiative began as something of a lark last week, when Mayor Dave Bing responded to a question on Twitter and said the city has no plans to build a RoboCop statue.

It has since generated national media attention and substantial debate within Detroit between those who believe a statue is fun and could be a tourist attraction and those who believe it is silly idea at best and condescending reminder of the city's crime problems at worst.

Here's an interesting and humorous interpretation of what the statue might look like by Detroit News graphic artist Rob L'Heureux:

Paffendorf, 29, of Detroit said he hopes the RoboCop campaign inspires residents and leads to other projects.

"If people can raise money for something like RoboCop, then they can do it for their neighborhoods or their schools," Paffendorf said. "Sometimes it takes a RoboCop to open up the consciousness of these things."