Frustration continues surrounding the Pirates’ ‘Bucco Bricks’ controversy

The Pirates’ “PR problems continue to pile up like commemorative bricks in a recycling center,” according to Adam Babetski of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. The Pittsburgh Sports and Exhibition Authority on Thursday approved new funds for sidewalk renovations at PNC Park during a meeting in which officials “stressed that” the $104,358 had “nothing to do with the Pirates’ recent Bucco Bricks controversy.” The agenda item came up days after thousands of commemorative bricks removed from sidewalks outside the ballpark were seen at a recycling facility, “sparking fan outrage amid the Pirates’ already rocky start to the season.” That did not stop Pirates fan Gabe Mazefsky, who has become a “fixture at SEA meetings, from interrupting the meeting several times to demand the board investigate whether tax dollars are being used in any way to ‘pay for the destruction’ of the Bucco Bricks.” He was “escorted outside by city police officers while trying to explain why he should be let back in, to no avail.” Back inside the meeting, board members approved the funding for “additional work due to unforeseen conditions of the sidewalk replacement” outside PNC Park (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 4/10).