ST. LOUIS — Mayor Lyda Krewson on Thursday made a personal appeal to aldermen to ask voters to repeal the residency requirement for most city workers, saying it would help deal with a shortage of police officers and other employees.

“Expanding the pool of applicants is not the cure-all but it does remove one barrier to hiring,” the mayor said in a state-of-the-city address to the Board of Aldermen.

Krewson said that the city made “significant progress” in fighting crime but that filling around 130 police vacancies is an important part of the effort that has been hampered by the residency rule.

She said the shortage has been around that number the past three or four years despite an increase in pay for officers and other steps.

She said crime in the city decreased by 6% last year and violent crime was down 15% but “if you’re a victim of crime, one crime is one crime too many and those stats do not matter.”

“Public safety remains job one and job two and job three,” she said.

She also cited her budget request for more money for demolition of derelict, vacant buildings and the city’s affordable housing program.