Detroit mayor nixes idea for a RoboCop statue

DETROIT — Philadelphia has its Rocky statue, but do not look for Detroit to celebrate its connection to RoboCop any time soon.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, who has taken to the Internet to solicit ideas for the city's revival, said on Monday there were no plans for a RoboCop statue to honor the 1987 science fiction movie based on Detroit. The question had come in via Twitter.

"There are not any plans to erect a statue to Robocop," Bing wrote on his Twitter account. "Thank you for your suggestion."

Bing touched off an immediate wave of Twitter messages from fans of the movie who hope he will reconsider, and others amused that he had even responded.

"Some people just don't get it," grumbled one message on Twitter. Another wrote: "If I were mayor of Detroit, my top priority would be a Robocop statue."

In the movie starring Peter Weller, a wounded police officer is turned into a half-mechanized cyborg in a future version of Detroit where crime-fighting is a for-profit business.

Earlier on Monday, Bing had been focused on a new program intended to get more Detroit police officers to move back into the city from the surrounding suburbs.

The city will offer 200 tax-foreclosed homes to police officers who will be able to buy them for $1,000 and then get $150,000 in federal grants to rehab them.

"Detroiters want to live in safe, stable neighborhoods and they deserve no less," Bing said.