Think of Barbados in 1977 and what comes quickly to mind?
Back then, Tom Adams was Prime Minister and Errol Barrow was sitting on the opposition benches in the House of Assembly.
It was at that time too that Adrian Mapp, a young man from St George, began planning his future. When he rubbed the proverbial crystal ball, what he saw was the United States in general and New York in particular on the horizon.
“I was thinking of joining my mother in the US,” Mapp told the Sunday Sun. “And I did just that.”
He didn’t know it at the time, but the Christmas of 1977 was to be his last in his birthplace for almost 40 years. Today, he is the elected Mayor of Plainfield, a city of about 60 000 people. It is one of largest municipalities in the Garden State of New Jersey, less than 90 minutes from New York City.
“I left Barbados on December 28, 1977 and my thoughts were about how I was going to fare in the US with its cold weather at Christmas, the possibilities of finding employment and getting an education,” Mapp recalled the other day.
“My last Christmas at home was a good one with the traditions of jug-jug; the Christmas carols, going to church; and having an excellent time afterwards in our community of Greens in St George. My wife-to-be and I had gotten engaged a few days before my departure, I think it was on December 23. I left before New Year’s Day and she later joined me in September 1978. The rest, as they say, is history. Neither of us has had a Christmas in Barbados since then.”
All of that is going to change. Plainfield’s first family is due in Barbados in a few days’ time, leaving behind the mostly middle class suburban community; its challenges; bright lights and its problems.
In the decades since his emigration from Barbados, Mapp has become a certified public accountant with a master’s degree in business administration awarded by Fairleigh Dickenson University in Rutherford and a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Rutger’s University in New Brunswick. In addition to his mayoral duties, the Barbadian is director of finance for the City of Orange Township and before that he was Comptroller of the Housing Authority of East Orange.
“I have had a rewarding career, occupying managerial positions in the public and private sectors while being involved in the life of the community where I have put down roots,” was the way he put it. “I decided to enter politics in order to help make a difference and I have had many successful and some political disappointments but on balance it has been very good.”
A year ago, Mapp decided to challenge the incumbent Democratic mayor for the party’s nomination which he won handily. The Barbadian was elected in November last year to a four-year term and he brought to the position the experience of serving on the City Council and at one time was its President, one of the most powerful positions in the City, after the mayor.
“It’s been a challenging first year as mayor but my administration has been successful in achieving many of our campaign goals,” said Mapp, a graduate of the Seventh-day Adventist School in Barbados. “Crime has fallen 32 per cent since I took office; the unemployment rate was 12 per cent when I was sworn in; and joblessness has declined to a rate of eight per cent. We are moving aggressively to boost investment in our city and expand housing. I would say that 2014 has been a good year.”
The Bajan intends to enjoy Christmas, the first since he was sworn in as Mayor in January this year.
“I am sure it’s going to be thoroughly enjoyable in Barbados,” said Mapp.
