While I applaud Ms Rudduck-Gudsell's enthusiasm and Creative Tauranga's determination to give a local writer due recognition, the term "internationally iconic tourist attraction" might be a bit of a stretch.
Sydney's got the Opera House, Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Agra has the Taj Mahal, and we will soon have a collection of small animal statues commemorating a proud high-water mark in New Zealand children's fiction.
It's brilliant, but let's not pretend it's about tourism.
Some have claimed the statue will be a great joy for children and they will drag their parents on holiday to Tauranga to worship at the temple of Maclary.
It's hard to imagine anyone coming to the sparkling and (usually) sunkissed Bay Of Plenty solely for the Hairy Maclary statues.
Anyone, that is, except Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
It's reported the Duchess is a Hairy Maclary fan and local MP Simon Bridges last night confirmed he had formally written to the Cabinet office requesting that Tauranga be added to the itinerary for a Royal visit in November.
If it's good enough for the Duchess, it's time we all laid our cards on the table and admitted that these statues - if they serve any purpose beyond recognition of Dame Lynley Dodd's wizardry of words - are really for the joy of children of decades past, who now read the adventures of Zachary Quack and Schnitzel von Krumm to their own kids.
We are the ones who want the touchstone, the characters carved in bronze, to pose in front of with dopey grins and relive our own treasured childhood memories.
And why not? It's not public money, and it illustrates that this city has personality and is rightly proud of Dame Lynley.
Anyone with the ability to create a character like the tomcat Scarface Claw deserves their efforts to be cast in bronze.
