i am jim kerwin. i am an international columnist and illustrator and have been for over 50 years. my question to you, after listening especially to the two last hours of proceeding time -- i cannot understand how this body could have accepted this proposal in the first place. this has to do with the maintenance of freedom in this country and the maintenance of civilian police that are answerable to someone besides the board of the cbd. cbds may be very good for commercial districts, but we are talking about the city's government here. i have written you three times and got no answers whatsoever. i am sure you are familiar with my opinions, not that it matters much. this city is five days older than the constitution of the united states. in all that time, we have not seen fit to give up policing our own citizens to a private corporation. what i am maintaining here is that your heart seeking to privatize the citizenry in the name of business. it is not really a good idea. i would really like to hear from you as to how you thought it was possible to even entertain this idea. privatiz