--- a/globalneighbors/web.py	Sat Jun 24 12:03:39 2017 -0700
+++ b/globalneighbors/web.py	Sat Jun 24 14:02:14 2017 -0700
@@ -19,6 +19,23 @@
 from .schema import name
 
 
+def autocomplete(cities, startswith=None):
+    """autocomplete function for city names"""
+    ### TODO: sort once, ahead of time
+
+    if startswith:
+        retval = []
+        for i in cities:
+            try:
+                if i[name].startswith(startswith):
+                    retval.append(i[name])
+            except Exception as e:
+                import pdb; pdb.set_trace()
+        return sorted(retval)
+    else:
+        return sorted([i[name] for i in cities])
+
+
 class Handler(object):
     """base class for HTTP handler"""
 
@@ -45,12 +62,8 @@
 
     def cities(self, startswith=None):
         """return list of cities"""
-
-        if startswith:
-            return sorted([i[name] for i in self._cities
-                           if i[name].startswith(startswith)])
-        else:
-            return sorted([i[name] for i in self._cities])
+        return autocomplete(self._cities,
+                            startswith=startswith)
 
     def GET(self, request):
         return Response(content_type=self.content_type,