I had to take a break last week not because anything terrible happened. I just became overwhelmed. Work and the kids as always. I also became entangled in local politics.

Last Tuesday, a town planning board went on until midnight. I offended the local politicians by asking too many clumsy questions. The owner of a dilapidated car lot who stood to make serious money from this deal snarled at me from the back row. A big gun lawyer threatened me. My neighbors and I later watched a thug slam the car lot dude’s face against the side of a van. I went running over to make sure he was all right. While still on the ground he pointed a finger at me and shouted, “this is all your fault.” I guess I had delayed his sale, and he owed bad people money. Angry politicians, big gun lawyers, and the Sopranos. It’s too much for me.

But this story isn’t about a plan to put in a drive in bank in a residential neighborhood. It’s about schools.

70 percent of town’s tax money goes to schools. Though our town’s taxes are much lower than any of the neighboring towns, the old people in town can’t afford another cent. They also want more of the town’s money to go to their senior busses and community centers. The politicians in town are campaigning next week on a platform of no new families, no new homes, commercial development, and senior housing. The younger families want more people like them in the town. They want an attractive, walkable downtown. They want good schools and summer camps. Too bad they don’t have the time to run for office.

The town is also lobbying Trenton to send more money to the suburbs and not to the cities. The Abbott decision has forced the state to fully fund the urban schools, and other localities have had to pick up the slack. Within the town, the fault lines are old people versus young families. Within the state, it’s suburbs versus the cities (no doubt with a racial undertone).

How do you get around the old people versus young family tension? Should some towns cater to old people with exclusive housing and small schools, while other towns become centers for younger families? Should you keep all the old folks in one place, so they don’t become a drain in the schools in other towns? Gerrymander them into one zone to limit their influence on the larger area? But then young families end up with doubly high taxes to pay for schools, which benefit the entire society.

Or is the answer to make education funding a state function? Wouldn’t you still end up with the same battle, just at the state level? And then add to that problem a greater reluctance among taxpayers to spend money on schools outside of their town?

Lots of questions tonight and no answers. Well, one answer. Only enter into Jersey politics armed with your own big gun lawyer and a bullet proof vest.