Professor Lyke Thompson, director of CULMA's Center for Urban Studies, commented about Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's announcement that the city is facing a $214 million deficit next year and the prospect of layoffs to meet the shortfall. "Every person he lays off is a vote," Thompson said. "He has to provide a rationale for what he has to do. It is a tough job." Thompson added that if balancing the budget had gotten difficult, the mayor should "explain it to the electorate so it may not hurt him, because it is people's friends and neighbors he is going to lay off."