Mary Fragedakis

Mary Fragedakis (listen) (born April 22, 1971)[1] is a Canadian politician, who was the councillor for Ward 29 of Toronto City Council for the period 2010-2018. In April 2019 Fragedakis became the Executive Director of the GreekTown on the Danforth BIA.[2][3][4] On October 1st, 2020 Fragedakis registered as a lobbyist at Toronto City Hall.[5]

Mary Fragedakis
Mary Fragedakis
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 29) Toronto-Danforth
In office
December 1, 2010 – December 1, 2018
Preceded byCase Ootes
Succeeded byPaula Fletcher (Ward 14)
Personal details
Born (1971-04-22) April 22, 1971
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ResidenceToronto, Ontario, Canada
ProfessionBusinessperson
Lobbyist

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.[6]

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.[7] Fragedakis defeated Ootes' preferred candidate, Jane Pitfield, 41.8% to 28%.[8]

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.[9]

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

City Council appointed Fragedakis to the Board of the TTC in late 2016.[10] 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.[11] During the City's 2018 budget process, she led the fight for more money for the TTC to address overcrowding.[12] This resulted in an additional $3 million for the TTC which will result in a number of improvements to TTC bus and subway services.[13]

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.[14]

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 Fragedakis11,90459.34%
Dave Andre4,95024.68%
John Papadakis2,0009.97%
Ricardo Francis5282.63%
Jimmy Vlachos4282.13%
Hank Martyn2491.24%
Total20,059100%
2010 Toronto election, Ward 29
Candidate Votes %
Mary Fragedakis7,43041.81%
Jane Pitfield4,96627.94%
Jennifer Wood4,26924.02%
Chris Caldwell8854.98%
John Richardson1380.77%
Mike Restivo810.45%
Total17,769100%

Official results.[15]

References
  1. "City hall rookies 2010: Mary Fragedakis, Ward 29". Toronto Star, November 25, 2010
  2. "The Ford Fallout: "Being a councillor now is like watching from afar with fingers crossed"". Toronto Life. 2019-12-18. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  3. "Danforth businesses warn of 'collapse' without rent programs in place for November". thestar.com. 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  4. Nickle, David (2020-05-19). "Businesses on Danforth approach reopening with caution". Toronto.com. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  5. "Lobbyist Registry Online Search". City of Toronto. 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2013-11-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Changed council faces new mayor". Toronto Star, October 25, 2010.
  8. "Rating the races", Now Magazine, September 2–9
  9. Toronto municipal election, 2014#Ward 29 - Toronto—Danforth
  10. "Councillor Fragedakis joins TTC Board". www.ttc.ca. Retrieved Dec 20, 2020.
  11. "$80M TTC budget hike not quite at 'record' level". thestar.com. Feb 16, 2017. Retrieved Dec 20, 2020.
  12. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-2018-budget-final-vote-1.4532637
  13. https://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Commission_reports_and_information/Commission_meetings/2018/May_8/Reports/7_Capacity_Improvements_on_Bus_and_Subway_Services.pdf
  14. Wilson, Codi (Nov 16, 2017). "Mayor, 2 city councillors push for time-based transfers on TTC for PRESTO users". CP24. Retrieved Dec 20, 2020.
  15. City of Toronto elections page Archived 2010-10-26 at the Wayback Machine
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