Hi, I'm back.

It was a packed house at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), on Wednesday night, as the local community gathered for a public hearing on a proposal to build a heliport facility somewhere in or near the South Boston Waterfront / Seaport District / Fort Point Channel. Read more.

The Herald quotes City Councilor Michael Flaherty (at large) as saying officials are looking at fulfilling our sacred promise to General Electric for a helipad by building one that floats on the water. But not just some "rinky-dink" crappy little floating thing - something grand and majestic that would be the envy of all of New England, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Hartford.

The Boston Business Journal reports a state official says building a temporary helipad in Boston by September is "doable," says that that would be like a bus stop, while the permanent location would be more like a bus station. No word on whether they'll take CharlieCards - or, for that matter, where they want to put it. We need to get this thing in place quickly because we'd hate to disappoint GE, which is, of course, moving here in part because we're a world-class city and world-class cities have helipads.