ABLI picks best and worst of 2011

Some business group had to do it, and it was the developers group Association for a Better Long Island that did it. It put out a best and worst list for 2011.

ABLI executive director Desmond Ryan says the best of 2011 is the election of Steve Bellone as Suffolk County executive, because Bellone gets it. "He has been willing to confront NIMBYs, cut regulatory red tape that prevents timely development, and advocate for projects he believes in," Ryan said.

The worst? Stony Brook University's condemnation of the nearby Gyrodyne Corp. property. The condemnation actually took place six years ago, but this year the state's appellate court, New York's highest court, said the university underpaid for the land and upped the sales price by $98.7 million. The court also ordered Stony Brook to pay 9 percent interest over the past six years, plus $1.5 million in court costs. The state university system had paid St. James-based Gyrodyne $26.3 million for its property in 2005, to build a research park on the site. Gyrodyne sued.

"It is the most amazing destruction of taxpayers' money in recent memory," Ryan said.