Above, a view of present conditions inside White Stadium. Robin Lubbock/WBUR photo

Revelations about the rising burden that Boston taxpayers will be asked to shoulder for our share of a dramatic $200 million re-invention of White Stadium – and still-lingering uncertainty about terms of the contract between the city of Boston and the for-profit soccer franchise that wants to use the new facility as its home – has dialed up the pressure on Mayor Wu to re-assess her support for the project.

Councillor Ed Flynn, a frequent critic of the mayor and a potential challenger of hers next year, has called for her to abandon the idea. A coalition of opponents – dubbed the Franklin Park Defenders – already has a lawsuit pending seeking to halt the demolition of the stadium.

On Tuesday, Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi urged Wu to disclose the terms of an as-yet unconsummated agreement between the city and the Boston Unity Soccer Partners.

She wrote: “When will the agreement become public? When I asked Wu that question at a press conference last week, she said, ‘As it is finalized, it will be made public, and I hope it is soon.’ Boston residents, especially those who support the plan, should hope so, too, because with more public disclosure comes more public trust.”

Vennochi’s assessment, it seems from this vantage point, is spot on.

In a column in this space last April, I wrote favorably about Wu’s decision to “leverage the financial support needed to make what she calls a ‘generational investment’ that could transform White Stadium into an asset that Bostonians from all walks of life can enjoy, use, and compete in.” It was, at the time, “a fiscally prudent and bold step forward.”

But, we cautioned, we needed to hear more from Boston Unity Soccer Partners “whose executive team can and should fully explain the benefits they intend to bring to our neighborhoods… It’s up to the BUSP squad to make the final sale to the people in our neighborhoods who might not be on their side of the pitch just yet.”

Unfortunately, the team hasn’t done that well at all.

Now, new reporting by the Globe and The Reporter has found that the cost to the city has ballooned in recent months from an estimate of $50 million last spring to a current estimate of $91 million. That’s not a minor adjustment.

Perhaps even more unsettling is the opaque nature of the lease agreement that Vennochi underscored in her column. Why haven’t the terms of this agreement been made public at this late stage? At a moment when Bostonians are being asked to pay more in taxes— and $40 million additionally at least to fund this joint-venture— we deserve a full, transparent picture of the agreement before it gets inked, not after.

The BUSP-City partnership could very well be a game-changer. White Stadium should have been re-built a generation ago and we applaud Mayor Wu for putting her time and political capital into a new approach to get it done. The idea of Dorchester hosting a women’s professional team— and a world-class soccer facility in a soccer-crazed community— is very appealing.

But at this stage, it’s essential that all stakeholders— including every resident of Boston— be privy to the deal that’s on the table and be given a full and accurate accounting for how much it will cost.

–Bill Forry