"I've heard they are busing in OLD PEOPLE..." my friend said, and I should say that when she said "old people," she did so in a loud Irish whisper, so loud in fact that even old people with hearing aids could probably pick up what she was saying.

We were on our way to vote Yes for a tax hike to fund a new high school, the culmination of a long fight between what I called The Breeders vs. The Seniors. It's a generational battle that plays out in suburbs across the nation, of course, young families who are willing and, crucially, able to fund shiny new educational goodies for their kids, and the elderly who are struggling to keep their homes in the face of surging property taxes.

Linda Keenan worked 7 years as a head writer/senior producer for various programs on CNN...read more

What surprised me is that in my camp, The Breeders, there seemed to little or no concern for the livelihoods of our opponents, The Seniors. Don't get me wrong, I voted for the new high school. But I had reservations.

After living in the suburbs now for about 5 years, I have witnessed first-hand a huge diversity problem and this one has nothing to do with white or black. It is the fact that most everyone in the suburbs is doing the same thing: raising a family.

You might think at first glance that, say, the gay family adds "diversity" to your town, but the truth is, they are doing exactly the same thing you are doing, and have the same interests as a result. They are parents, just like you. The former parents, the Seniors, are the undeniable minorities in town, often living on a fixed income and anxious to stay in their longtime homes.

I was surprised at how little debate there was among The Breeders on how the vote would affect The Seniors. The Seniors (along with the "anti-tax, any tax" brigade) seemed to be viewed as a purely selfish force, unwilling to invest in our town's future, perhaps because their own personal horizons were far more limited than ours.

But I think there's a real loss to the community in creating an environment that is so financially inhospitable that seniors can't afford to live here. My son, who has just one grandparent who lives hours away, has no sense of old people and I have a hard time seeing how he will ever garner true respect and understanding of senior citizens and their needs in a town that doesn't have very many.

The seniors he does encounter in our town are the lucky outliers of the AARP set: they are unusually hale and hearty, and they are quite wealthy. That, of course, is because the sick and the financially vulnerable have to move out. There's only so many times a town can say Yes to a big project before someone taking in just a Social Security check has to leave.

Yes, I voted Yes. But I beeped my horn at both the Yes and No advocates standing outside for hours on a cold winter day when I drove by the polling place. Because I know in 20 years I might be sitting in my grown child's home, with all the memories I don't want to lose, and too many bills to pay. ...read more blogs