RoboCop landmark in Point?
Mayor looks to bring statue of ‘80s sci-fi icon
By Taylor Hale
The Clarke Street Bridge, Point Brewery, the city has numerous iconic locations and landmarks. But Mayor Mike Wiza is hoping to bring a different kind of landmark to Stevens Point.
Wiza is working to bring an 11-foot statue of 1987s “RoboCop” to the city, to be placed in front of the police station or a local park.
“I intend to do what I can to get the statue,” Wiza told the Gazette.
The statue was created to be displayed at the Michigan Science Center in Detroit, but the staff at the center decided to refocus their resources after the start of COVID-19. The piece was crowdfunded and commissioned in 2012 for $70,000.
Wiza hopes to see the statue come “home,” to Stevens Point, since Peter Weller, the actor who played RoboCop, was born in the city. The mayor has reached out directly to the artists who created the statue, and even Weller’s family still living in Stevens Point, to see if the actor would endorse his project.
Wiza noted that the artists who made the piece would prefer to see it remain in Detroit.
“They did say because the money was raised in Detroit, and Detroit is the scene of the movie, even though none of it was actually filmed in Detroit, it is set in the future in Detroit, so they want to try and keep it in Detroit,” Wiza said.
But Wiza hasn’t given up hope and is even planning an alternative option if the original statue doesn’t find its way home. Wiza hopes to work with CREATE Portage County to use recycled plastics to create 3D printer fiber to make a new, even larger Robo-cop statue.
“Everybody has really rallied around the Robo-cop statue, it really brings the community together,” Wiza said.