While the environmental group is given a seat at the negotiating table, private property owners and other affected residents are not given the opportunity to object to these settlements.
At this honor-among-thieves event, the Designated Bidder puts all the goodies that he won on the table and whoever is high bidder for a given property wins.
If no additional revenue is coming in due to a refusal to raise taxes, coupled with the dramatically falling property tax revenues, government officials have no recourse but to go to the negotiating table with unions.