They're not just about houses

At their August meeting, members of the Long Beach-Island Park Brokers Council had a roundtable talk about various goings-on in their selling areas. Among their topics were a recent New York Times article on shelved building projects that referenced the still-undeveloped Superblock on Broadway; a letter City Manager Charles Theofan mailed to residents about enforcing illegal-rental laws; proposals for metered parking and group rentals.

While the council has decided to expand its roundtable discussions to twice yearly, the organization typically holds monthly meetings that feature a guest speaker, at either the guest’s office or the Island Park Library. Some speakers are scheduled for the same month every year, including Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford (in April) and Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (in July). The Realtors also meet with groups, including City Council members and the Long Beach School District administrators.

“These people that we meet with every year, they look to use for input, to know what’s going on in the industry,” said council Co-Chairman Neil Sterrer, owner of Sterrer

Realty in the West End.

The council also leaves room for new speakers. In June it met for the first time with Ron Masters, the Town of Hempstead’s commissioner of conservation and waterways. Sterrer credits Joe Ponte, a Realtor with Prudential Douglas Elliman on West Park Avenue, for recruiting more town and county officials to speak.

“These meetings are to update the local officials about what we’re going through on the commercial or residential ends,” Ponte said, “and they also like to hear from us on market trends.”

Ponte, an Island Park Library trustee, said the council has penciled in Town Clerk Mark Bonita to be a first-time speaker next spring. “So as small as the organization is, everyone wants to be part of it now,” Ponte said. “In the beginning it was just about local things.”

Ponte was among the original members when Sterrer and co-chairman Joe Sinnona, owner of Joe Sinnona at Verdeschi Realty, founded the organization in 1996 as a breakfast club that met monthly at West End eateries. Within a year, members began holding the monthly meetings with local officials.

Sterrer estimated that he notifies as many as 350 Realtors about meetings by e-mail and through Facebook. On average, a dozen of them attend monthly meetings, although as many has 25 have shown up.

“Neil has all these speakers who are relative to what we do in the real estate business, and it’s a learning experience ,” said John Cestaro, owner of JVC Realty in Island Park. “And I think it’s important to keep up on what’s going on in the area.”

The council will have its annual meeting with Island Park Mayor Jim Ruzicka in the fall, but next week its members will gather at City Hall to talk with Theofan. “There’s so many rumors going around about the Superblock,” Cestaro said about the Sept. 9 meeting. “I hope at least we’ll know what’s really going on there.”

Sterrer said that the council’s main purpose has always been to provide a venue for local real estate agents to share information they might not otherwise get. “And it’s information about Long Beach and Island Park that can make you a better Realtor,” he said.

Ponte said he has found that officials are more open to listening to and understanding Realtors when the council is a conduit for their concerns, and he said that their one-on-one access to officials helps to clear up many matters, from rental laws to zoning codes.

Through the years, Sterrer has found that the council has had a positive effect on community members’ opinions of real estate agents. “When I first came to Long Beach, I wondered how the real estate community was viewed -- I guess as greedy Realtors,” he explained. “But the respect has grown, and it’s happened through the Brokers Council and keeping this dialogue open with all the groups we meet with.”

Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.