Now that Swampscott Elementary School has completed its first year as a merged building, Select Board Member David Grishman’s original mission in town has officially come full circle.

After moving to Swampscott with his family to build a life and home in 2014, Grishman said he started to pay a bit more attention to what was going on around town. 

“We had talked about the elementary school project for the first time,” Grishman said. “That was getting going, and I had two small children under three at the time, so I was really interested in learning more about the potential of getting a new elementary school. I had no idea about the conditions of the schools previously.”

Grishman started to attend meetings and get involved. The vote for the combined elementary school took place – and failed – that October. 

“I remember pushing my stroller down the street, and I saw one of the neighbors who said that the school vote failed. I looked down at my kids, and I realized that my kids were never going to go to a new elementary school in Swampscott, and that was kind of a horrible feeling,” Grishman said. “From that point on, I said if there’s anything I can do to do my part other than to just complain and be a Facebook warrior – to get involved and engaged and be the change that you want to see – I’m going to do that.”

In 2017, Grishman became involved with the 2-mile linear park Rail Trail work, and two years later he helped bring more events to Swampscott.

“We started the Swampscott beer garden in 2019, and in 2019 we had the first Bent Water Day at the beach,” Grishman said. “I didn’t know if there would be 100 people or 500 people, but I said this is the concept and this is the idea, and…let’s see what we can do to help the town really foster that sense of community.”

After the Bent Water Beach Day was a hit, the group came back with Swamptoberfest later that year. Grishman said he has been able to “work really diligently and closely” with Swampscott Recreation to keep the events going and expand them.

“Those things led to me saying ‘Hey, maybe I do have a lot to give as a former business executive, as a commercial lender, as a banker, as a finance professional, to really lend my skill set to town leadership,’” Grishman said.

Now Grishman is in his sixth year of leadership on the Select Board. 

“I was really interested in infrastructure investments, in dealing with the new school and dealing with our water sewer infrastructure problems and really looking out at the future and trying to foster a fiduciary responsibility that allows us to address all these concerns that we’ve kicked down the road for decades,” Grishman said. 

Grishman said that the town is now starting to see these bigger projects come to light, such as an eight-figure investment into the water and sewer infrastructure, “the largest capital project in the history of the town” with the elementary school, as well as the boutique hotel investments and other business and economic developments for the overall town. 

“It’s really just about bringing all of those things together and realizing that vision, and it takes a long time. It takes a lot of dedication and a lot of work,” Grishman said, adding that a lot of the initiatives that started multiple years ago are “coming to the forefront today, which is exciting.”

And while Grishman’s sons may be too old to go to the elementary school now, he said he’s still proud of the accomplishments the town has been able to achieve.

“A lot of the work that you do as a public official is not self-serving. It’s for others,” Grishman said. “You want to serve and you want to serve others…It does bring me joy to know that other families aren’t going to have that same concern because the town of Swampscott took care of that obligation that we had to have safe, clean, functioning 21st century schools – not only for our kids but for our parents and our staff.”

Now looking at other projects, Grishman has attended the Hawthorne Reuse Advisory Committee meetings and noted that there “are certainly a lot of ideas.”

“It’s certainly a difficult task. Everybody has a lot of opinions,” Grishman said. “I think that the work that the committee is going to do and the input that they’re going to receive from the public is going to help shape that future decision. I am hopeful that we have some commercial development, a lot of green space, good views.”

Grishman sees the Hawthorne property, in conjunction with the Hadley hotel, as a way to “revitalize the rest of Humphrey Street.” 

“You’re already seeing it with a lot of businesses and shops that are opening, but I think that private investment combined with some type of public investment at the Hawthorne site is really going to help invigorate and bring Humphrey Street into the 21st century,” Grishman said. 

He’s also excited for the Sam Walker’s restaurant set to open in Vinnin Square, adding it’ll be a great place to watch his New Orleans Saints play. 

Grishman said that it has helped to have his commercial lending background over the past few years, as the town has dealt with a few real estate deals. 

“Talk is cheap. Numbers don’t lie,” Grishman said. “You have to be able to dream and not talk yourself out of something…but at some point, you do need to have a reality check and be able to determine what exactly is financially feasible, financially viable.”

He is hoping now that the diverse perspectives on the Select Board will be able to come together and have “more effective communication.”

“We don’t have to make decisions in silos. We don’t need to have unilateral decision-making by one board member. We can work more closely together ourselves and with professional staff and take a lot of these conversations out of the shadows and out of the back rooms and bring them to the public,” Grishman said.

Grishman pointed to the recent town diversity, equity and inclusion survey, which saw staff and community members perceiving leadership as “inconsistent in communication and accessibility.”

“From our perspective, we need to better invest in providing someone or people with that skillset to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently,” Grishman said. “I think the residents of Swampscott deserve that.”