The following is the text of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s weekly radio address as prepared for delivery on 1010 WINS News Radio for Sunday, January 6, 2013.

“Good Morning. This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

“Achieving any goal – whether it’s a personal New Year’s resolution or a professional objective – requires a sustained commitment. And as we look ahead to the new year, I’m glad to report that in 2012, our hard work paid off in very important ways. For instance: Life expectancy has reached an all-time high; New York City has had fewer murders and fewer shootings than at any time in recorded history; the City’s incarceration rate has plummeted.

“And last week, we got good news in two more areas – fire safety and our growing tourism industry.

“On Wednesday, I joined Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano to recognize a number of FDNY officers who had earned promotions. And our fire safety numbers show just how important their hard work has been to our city.

“Last year, New York recorded the lowest number of fire-related deaths – 58 – since record-keeping began in 1916. In fact, thanks to the service and sacrifice of New York’s Bravest, 2012 closed out the safest decade ever for fire-related incidents in our city. Since 2002, we’ve averaged 85 civilian fire deaths per year. It’s a 41 percent improvement over the previous 10 years, when the city averaged 144 fire deaths per year. An important part of our achievement is that we’re responding to fires and other life threatening emergencies faster than ever. Firefighters now arrive an average of 20 seconds faster than they did a decade ago. And ambulance response times now average six minutes, thirty seconds – a one second improvement over the record we set in 2011.

“Improving public safety goes hand in hand with attracting more visitors to our city. As families think of where to travel, safety is often a top concern. That’s why New York’s position as the nation’s safest big city is a central reason why we’re also America’s number one city for tourism.

“Thanks to a lot of hard work from our tourism and marketing agency, NYC & Company, New York welcomed a record 52 million visitors last year. Together, those visitors spent $36.9 billion – an all-time high. And perhaps best of all, the leisure and hospitality industry, which includes hotels and other businesses that depend on tourism, today supports an all-time high of roughly 356,000 jobs in our city. Those jobs pay, on average, $52,000 a year – roughly $7,000 more a year than the average job.

“From public safety to tourism to jobs, 2012 has given our city the start we need to make 2013 another year for the record books.

“This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Happy New Year and thanks for listening.”

(YWN Desk – NYC)