Three dozen residents of the South Side have requested a City Council public hearing into public safety in the city's Zone 3 police district, saying they want to address frequent changes in commander and understaffing there.

Petitions listing Susan McCoy of South Side Flats-based Paolozzi Designs as the contact person were received by council Friday. That same day, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl announced the planned move of the Zone 3 station from the Flats to Allentown.

Zone 3 was commanded by William Joyce in 2005, RaShall Brackney in 2006, Larry Ross in 2007 and now Catherine McNeilly. After the West End station was reopened in January and some officers were reassigned there, Zone 3 became the busiest police district in terms of incidents per officer, according to an analysis by the Post-Gazette of first quarter staffing and police reports.