It's time to give The Leonardo the go code. Salt Lake City should hammer out a lease agreement with the science museum proposed for the Old Main Library and issue the $10.2 million in bonds that voters approved in 2003 to renovate the building.

True, this is not the most auspicious time for any city to take on new debt. But the city would be spending money to renovate an asset that has stood mostly vacant for five years. Even if The Leonardo were to fail, and we sincerely hope that it does not, the city would only be out the money to renovate its own building, which then could be put to another use. The money would not have been wasted because the building has to be improved in any case to meet seismic codes and to abate asbestos, among other issues.

The City Council has been emphatic that it does not intend to go into the museum business, that The Leonardo must survive without city help. Essentially the deal is that the city will spruce up the building and lease it to the science center, but that's all. Don't come back to us for operating funds or donations, the council has told Leonardo officials, because you won't get them.

Given the deteriorating economy and the city's other priorities, including preserving basic services and constructing a new public safety complex, that's the right approach. So long as that is the arrangement, and both parties understand it, the city should proceed.

As an institution, The Leonardo has earned this opportunity by remaking itself over the past year, restructuring its board, focusing its mission, hiring an executive director, Peter Giles, with proven experience and tailoring its plans to the available resources. It has convinced the city's independent consultant that its vision and business plan both are workable. Its mounting of the Body Worlds exhibition late last year, which sold 290,000 tickets over four months, proved that it could organize and carry off a major show.

Raising millions of additional dollars going forward will be a major challenge. But the folks of The Leonardo have earned the chance to try.

Besides, Salt Lake City is ready for an institution that can excite kids and lifelong learners alike about science. Every show won't be Body Worlds, of course, but similar wonders can be displayed and minds engaged on a smaller scale.