Letters to the Editor: $5,000 and free golf to move to Indiana? These ex-Hoosiers say no way

Los Angeles Times Opinion
·2 min read
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WESTFIELD, IN - JUNE 09: Mariah Zingarelli (cq), 29, and three-year-old dauther Addyson (cq) Zingarelli during a family night out at Urban Vines on Friday, June 9, 2023 in Westfield, IN. Mariah and husband Chad Zingarelli, 34, work remotely from home managing two social media marketing companies; Picking Daisies Media and Peace of Mind Media. Both companies help influencers and businesses navigate the digital media landscape. Mariah and Chad, along with their dauther Addyson Zingarelli (cq), 3, moved from Fresno, CA late March 2023. Mariah's mother, Dani Stillman, 52, step-father Jason Stillman (51), and aunt Dee Hanes, 58, all from the Fresno area, followed them relocating to Noblesville. Noblesville is roughly a 71,000-population town about 30 miles north of Indianapolis. Across the Hoosier state, more than 30 counties and cities are practically stepping over each other in what has become the new competition across the land: attracting the pandemic-enlarged horde of people with remote jobs who no longer feel the need to live in more expensive urban centers like Los Angeles or New York. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Mariah Zingarelli plays with her daughter at a vineyard in Westfield, Ind., on June 9. She and her family moved from Fresno. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: I had to laugh after reading about workers leaving California for states that offer new residents cash payments and other perks.

Your article says that Mariah Zingarelli and her family sold their Fresno home and moved to Noblesville, Ind. — and for that they received $5,000 cash, membership at a local golf club and more. There, they purchased a $495,000 home.

Did I mention the family had never set foot in Indiana?

I left Indianapolis in 1963 and moved to the San Fernando Valley with a raise of $4,000 over what I had been making. The Zingarellis will need the $5,000 to "Indianaup" their living arrangements. They will likely have to put the money toward 24-hour air conditioning in the summer and a big heating bill over the long winter and part of spring. Throw in a snow blower, winter clothes, tire chains, salt damage to their car, endless gray skies for six months and expensive house maintenance because of extreme weather changes.

Finally, the family can look forward to sitting in their backyard at war with bug of all kinds. I give them a year.

David B. Williams, Arroyo Grande, Calif.

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To the editor: Wow, your photographer makes Noblesville look like Tuscany. There are vineyards now?

I graduated from Indiana University, less than an hour from Noblesville — Hicksville then, apparently low-cost paradise now.

But I’m not tempted by its move-in bonus and huge house for under half a million. The winters are lousy and long, and the neighbors probably voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Whoever I voted for in Indiana did not win an election, and my brothers who live there have a hard time getting government benefits that are more easily available next door in Illinois.

When I went to Indiana University, the Grand Dragon of the KKK lived nearby. I noticed that the new Hoosiers in your article are white. Just wondering how many Black or Latino people were given this warm welcome.

Cheryl Clark, Long Beach

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To the editor: Your article detailed a number of advantages that people who moved to Indiana felt were important.

As a former resident of Indiana, I thought the article did not mention a significant drawback to moving there: Now you have to live in Indiana.

John Humble, Santa Monica

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.