Boston Mayor Michelle Wu made it clear she was sticking with a controversial plan to rehab White Stadium to house a pro soccer team after a political rival urged her to kill the project due to a ballooning taxpayer tab and community opposition.

Wu offered a staunch defense of the city’s public-private plan for the dilapidated stadium this week, following up a podcast appearance on “Java with Jimmy” with a lengthy post on Bluesky, where she dismissed assertions that cost overruns have made the project Boston’s new Big Dig.

“Public projects rightly deserve scrutiny and too many stadium projects have left taxpayers in the lurch,” Wu wrote on Bluesky. “I’ve been a fierce critic of bad deals for Boston — not stopping now.”

The mayor also hit back at critics who likened remarks she made last week on GBH’s Boston Public Radio to her effectively promising to sign a “blank check” as part of her administration’s public-private partnership with Boston Unity Soccer Partners, an all-female ownership group behind the pro women’s team that includes Boston Globe CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry among its investors.

“There’s no such thing as a blank check when it comes to city capital projects,” Wu said on the morning podcast, later posting that cost overruns were driven by a design process that incorporated substantial community feedback and the city’s initial projected cost of construction was a “placeholder.”

Wu had stated last week she was committed to pay for the city’s half of the project — which recently skyrocketed from $50 million to $91 million and counting — “no matter what it costs” to taxpayers. Her comments came as the city budget grew by 8% this fiscal year and homeowners are facing a 10.5% hike in taxes next year.

The mayor’s remarks last week were quickly seized upon by critics, including abutters who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit that challenges the shift in the Franklin Park facility to a for-profit organization, a privatization claim the city denies — and inflamed long-standing opposition to the project from parts of the community.

City Councilor Ed Flynn, who is considering challenging Wu for mayor in 2025, also jumped on her comments. He called for the Wu administration to kill a pricey project he had long considered to be “tone-deaf” amid the city’s budget crunch while citing the escalating cost for taxpayers and community opposition.

“We should cancel this proposal immediately,” Flynn said in a statement, “and work together with residents and stakeholders across the city to provide the best option not only for our city and supporting a professional women’s soccer team, but one that incorporates the voice of our residents and student-athletes as well.”

Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy also called for “pause” on the project Wednesday, and has filed a hearing order to address concerns around skyrocketing costs, alleged privatization, and displacement of BPS student-athletes.

Flynn cited a community-led proposal to invest a more modest $20 million to rehab and keep White Stadium as a high-school-only facility, and critics who have argued that the new women’s team should share use of a new soccer stadium in Everett with the New England Revolution.

The Kraft Group is behind the Everett stadium, which was recently green-lighted by the state Legislature. Josh Kraft, son of the billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and head of the family’s philanthropic arm, is also considering a bid for mayor in 2025.

Wu did not directly address Flynn’s comments, made on Monday, on either platform where she addressed White Stadium on Wednesday, but did extensively outline the plan that she sees as setting “new standards for public benefit.”

Addressing criticism that the renovations are aimed at benefiting the new National Women’s Soccer League team, BOS Nation Football Club, Wu said the city and Boston Public Schools, which would share use of the facility, would, as part of the lease agreement, maintain ownership and control “of everything.”

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Boston Unity, as the tenant, would pay rent, and fund more than half of the roughly $200 million renovation, along with “millions of dollars for maintenance and operations costs” on an annual basis after construction is completed, Wu said.

“It’s not like we’re handing it over, paying for a cost, and then they’re going to decide how and when it’s used,” Wu said. “It’s actually the opposite of that, where the city, in a very unusual arrangement for projects like this, is keeping full control and ownership.”

The soccer team will fund the west grandstand, public restrooms, NWSL team spaces, a scorecard, lighting and a concessions area, Wu wrote.

The city’s estimated costs include $10 million for grass turf and an eight-lane track, among other enhancements; $50 million for the east grandstand, BPS locker rooms, a community kitchen and event space; $20 million for athletics offices, strength and conditioning, sports medicine and coaching; and $10 million for park landscaping, utilities, trees, pathway and lighting upgrades, Wu wrote.

Wu has said the new cost estimates will be baked into an updated lease agreement, which is being finalized and will be released “soon,” with demolition and construction to quickly follow.

A lawsuit aimed at stopping those plans is still pending in court.