I think they mean violence isn’t the first thing you reach for. There’s a real problem in the world, and especially in the US, where the moment someone is even moderately upset about something they immediately start pulling weapons.
You should always attempt to negotiate and de-escalate the situation. Violence is something you should reach for only after it becomes abundantly evident that they are not prepared to meet you halfway or are just obviously corrupt, like is the case here.
But you never know, some of the officials may just be really stupid and have not thought about the project beyond the immediate benefits, and haven’t thought about/don’t know about the downside.