Mayor Bloomberg said on Sunday that serving New Yorkers as mayor for 12 years has been an “honor and privilege.”
With his tenure set to finish on Wednesday, Bloomberg has spent the past few weeks touting the accomplishments of his three terms.
He delivered his 601st and final weekly radio address on Sunday morning.
In the four-minute address on 1010 WINS, Bloomberg said he was grateful New Yorkers “took a chance” on a political neophyte in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“I was a political outsider, a relative unknown, an entrepreneur with no government experience who asked for your trust,” Bloomberg said.
He spoke of his promises to be a “results-oriented leader” and said unpopular decisions were made with the city’s best interests in mind.
“All I could offer you was a promise: that I would govern as a results-oriented leader, not a partisan politician; that I would make integrity the hallmark of City Hall, never owing the special interests a favor; and that I would always do what I believed to be right, no matter which way the political winds were blowing,” Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg also touted his success in cutting the murder rate in half, increasing high-school graduation rates by 42 percent and the life expectancy of New Yorkers by three years.
“Today, New York City is stronger than it’s ever been,” he added.
The billionaire will return to the private sector after attending the New Year’s Day inauguration of his successor, Bill de Blasio.