There are many things in this world which you can't observe with your senses but which nevertheless exist. However in the current case, the people who took issue with the city council's project were apparently perfectly able to spot the difference with their senses, so if you can't then I'm sorry for you.

But sorry, "wanting" doesn't really cut it. I don't think many people object if you donate $50 even though you could technically donate $100 or if you don't allocate your complete spare time to community service. (Or at least I hope no one does). But one reason why that's not an issue is because someone else could pitch in do the work instead.

What I meant were cases where you wouldn't want anyone to help because if the situation inproved beyond a certain level this would actually results in a worse situation for you. So "want" in this context would be about conflicting goals.