When writing letters opposing the Calpine Power Plant, it could be helpful to cite the survey that Robert Aldana did on property values. I went through all the responses and tried to tally them. Here are the results. Some of the comments were somewhere in between "slightly" and "definitely". I just used my judgment. I welcome anyone else to do a similar tally. The complete survey results are available at http://www.southsanjose.com/news0025.htm.

The question posed to buyers was "Would [proximity to a power plant] in your opinion affect the desirability for you as a home buyer?" The question posed to realtors was "Do you feel that [proximity to a power plant] affects property values?"

Total number of respondents: 55 (25 home buyers and 30 realtors, including Robert)

"no" or "probably not": 3 people (1 buyer and 2 realtors) or 5% of total

"slightly" or "varies" or "depends": 7 people (3 buyers and 4 realtors) or 13% of total

"definitely" or "greatly": 45 people (21 buyers and 24 realtors) or 82% of total

If I were to add comments that I have heard by asking around and posts to the message board at this site, I would add about 20 more people to the "definitely" category. But of course, my own asking around is not part of Robert's survey.

--
Walter A.