Newark Mayor Corey Booker is responding to calls to remove him from office.

Critics of Mayor Booker complain about municipal layoffs and the city?s crime rates. Booker says many of his critics are left over from the previous administration. He says that administration left the city with a huge budget deficit.

?It's going to be a very tough struggle,? said Booker. ?We have real challenges that we were left with, with the previous administration.?

One of Booker?s platforms was crime reform. There have been 45 murders so far this year, only two less than this time last year. Critics believe that statistic shows there has been no development.

?Nothing's changed,? said violence activist Thomas Ellis. ?I was willing to give him a chance, and I did that.? Ellis says he has not joined the movement to remove Booker from office ? yet.