Mary Fragedakis
Mary Fragedakis is a Canadian politician, who was the councillor for Ward 29 of Toronto City Council for the period 2010-2018.
Early Life
Fragedakis is the child of Greek immigrants, and spent her childhood in the Danforth community. She attended Wilkinson PS, Earl Grey Senior PS and Riverdale Collegiate Institute, and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1996 with a Master of Arts in political science.Prior to her election, Fragedakis was involved for nine years with Open Dialogue, a conference and seminar organizing company and served as one of the founders of the Broadview Community Youth Group.
Municipal Politics
Encouraged to run by former councillor and then-federal New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, Fragedakis entered the race to succeed retiring councillor Case Ootes in Ward 29 during the 2010 city council election. Fragedakis defeated Ootes' preferred candidate, Jane Pitfield, 41.8% to 28%.Fragedakis was re-elected as councillor for Ward 29 in the 2014 Toronto election with a significant plurality of over 60% of the popular vote.
Fragedakis ran again as councillor for the newly constituted Ward 14 Toronto Danforth in the 2018 Toronto election and lost to Paula Fletcher who was the incumbent councillor for former Ward 30.
TTC Board Member
City Council appointed Fragedakis to the Board of the TTC in late 2016. On the Board she was a strong advocate for improving public transit. In 2017, she moved a motion to find the $1.2 million for the subway reliability program, which TTC CEO Andy Byford told council would help cut down on track-related subway delays by up to 30 per cent.“I think we owe it to subway users. I know they’ve put up with a lot of subway closures, they’ve put up with no air conditioning on subway cars, they’ve put up with trains too full to get on in the morning and other delays,” Mary Fragedakis. During the City's 2018 budget process, she led the fight for more money for the TTC to address overcrowding. This resulted in an additional $3 million for the TTC which will result in a number of improvements to TTC bus and subway services.She led the campaign at City Hall for the TTC's new two-hour transfer policy. She moved a successful motion at the TTC Budget Committee and advocated for the policy change at both the TTC Board and City Council.
Greening the Neighbourhood
Fragedakis has worked with local residents and community groups to restore many local parks and green spaces. She helped turn an abandoned parking lot at Donlands and Cosburn Avenues into a new parkette. She has been described by the director of the Bringing Back Nature Project at William Burgess Elementary School as, “an integral partner who was there with us time and time again to advocate for us.” Fragedakis is also involved in a new children’s community garden on Pape Avenue and a revitalization of the grounds of the East York Civic Centre.Election results
| 2014 Toronto election, Ward 29 | - | - |
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Mary Fragedakis | 11,904 | 59.34% |
| Dave Andre | 4,950 | 24.68% |
| John Papadakis | 2,000 | 9.97% |
| Ricardo Francis | 528 | 2.63% |
| Jimmy Vlachos | 428 | 2.13% |
| Hank Martyn | 249 | 1.24% |
| Total | 20,059 | 100% |
Official results.