Since we were out of town last weekend, we had to monitor the big fight on the North Shore from afar.

Not the Aug. 28 "Rumble on the River"-- the super featherweight match where Monty Meza-Clay stopped Allen Litzau in just three rounds with a flurry of left hooks.

No, the other fight -- the flurry of indignant e-mails that started flying when The Rivers Casino knocked the city's outdoor enthusiasts cold by unilaterally closing the Riverfront Trail to accommodate its Saturday evening boxing match.

On the one hand, the Internet's high-speed exchanges have a way of amplifying a flurry into a fury, but on the other hand is a padded leather glove. Just kidding -- on the other hand, the situation did read, from a distance, as something both practically and symbolically significant.

Was it yet another lost round in Pittsburgh's battle not to be treated like a sissy of a city?

Was it a symptom of the new-school collaborative style of the educated class not yet having demolished enough of the city's old-school politics?

Or was it just the problem of a process not being set up in time to meet the need?

I'm not a gambling woman -- sorry, casino operators -- but if I were, I'd hedge this bet with "all of the above."

Two days before an event that was months in the planning, the casino announced to the public -- and apparently to city government -- that it would be detouring trail traffic from 5:45 until 10 or 10:30 p.m.

Irritated cyclists called it a "five-hour closure," but casino spokesman George Matta insists, "We never closed [the trail], we detoured it around our property."

Huh? I'd cite Orwell, but the Cold War this ain't.

Anyway, the casino promised to post comprehensive detour signs, but volunteers from the Northside Bike/Ped Safety Committee report that there were no directional signs at all -- simply a few boards that read either "Trail Closed" or "Detour."

"It was very poorly signed, very poorly planned," says Mark Masterson, executive director of the Northside Community Development Fund and a safety committee member. (My husband also serves on the committee, which is how I saw the indignant e-mails sounding the alarm.)

"They put everybody using the trail in much greater danger," says Mr. Masterson. "In a 15-minute period I probably watched 20 people on bikes having a problem getting around."

Putting up better signs and requesting more traffic cops are easy enough fixes, but there's a bigger issue: Who runs this city?

The easement the casino granted the city to construct the trail allows for its closure only in emergencies or for public safety reasons, and the casino cited safety concerns "due to higher than expected attendance."

Hmmm. The amphitheater seats about 1,000, but eyewitnesses say the casino put bleachers for additional seating on the trail. The casino did not provide me an attendance figure, asserting the fight promoter sold the tickets.

"You can't add seating to your venue and overwhelm the trail that accommodates it, and then close the trail citing public safety issues," says Mark Fatla, executive director of the Northside Leadership Conference. "You created the public safety issue."

The promoter also wanted to close the trail, he says, because "they didn't want people who hadn't bought tickets to see the fight."

The trail, says Mr. Masterson, is a public park. "I can't go close Riverview Park because I want to have a fight night. What stops any property owner from doing this to make an extra buck?"

Well, the city is supposed to regulate such things, but Mr. Fatla says it's not clear whether any reliable process exists.

"There's no application? No public notice process? You just e-mail the city and they don't ask a single question?"

When I called Friday, all my questions were referred to the mayor's press office, and his staff, though I reached them, declined to respond.

Given the city's solid successes in making Pittsburgh a greener, more bike-and pedestrian-friendly town, it's weird that such a high-profile event would be treated so carelessly.

To the credit of all involved, they'll be meeting soon to address the situation. "I don't see it as an insurmountable problem -- there's just a slight learning curve," says Tom Baxter, executive director of Friends of the Riverfront.

"Thankfully all the partners are very cordial and work well together, for the benefit of the entire community. That's why the trail's here."

He's right: It's for the entire community.

With everyone now sounding a conciliatory note, they're probably cringing at my ongoing fight analogy, but it's a gimme. The casino's kinda asking for it by leading with its chin over a boxing match. And good civic health demands more than a featherweight response.

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