ADDITIONAL SERVICES NOW AVAILABLE AT PUBLIC FORUMS TO DISCUSS IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY ON THE 1886 MUSEUM SHIP BALCLUTHA
The square-rigged sailing ship Balclutha, originally designed to carry cargo, is now a floating museum at Hyde Street Pier that welcomes tens of thousands of visitors a year. Narrow staircases, small bulkhead doors and overhead lines create physical barriers for many people visiting the vessel. In addition, there is limited access to exhibits and other program opportunities for people with sensory disabilities.
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park invites you to attend a public forum to learn about this project, and help choose alternatives that improve accessibility to this National Historic Landmark sailing ship. The project will cover a path from the visitor’s arrival, and orientation to historic interpretation aboard the vessel. Improvements may include a new gangway, lifts to multiple decks, tactile models and exhibits, audio description captioning and assistive listening for audio programs. The Park is hosting two meetings, one in San Francisco and one in the East Bay, which will consist of a formal presentation followed by group discussion and feedback.
MEETING AT THE PARK VISITOR CENTER, IN SAN FRANCISCO
499 Jefferson Street, at the corner of Hyde Street
Tuesday February 7, 2017
Doors open at 5:00pm to facilitate tactile examination of raised-line graphics with braille labels and a 3D model of the Balclutha that provides tactile exploration of the ship as a whole and each individual deck. An informational presentation will begin at 5:30pm. Staff will be available for questions and comments until 7:00pm.
Assistive listening devices and sign language interpreters will be available. Additional accommodations such as audio description and CART will be available upon request (please contact Morgan Smith at morgan_smith@nps.gov or call 415-859- 6797, at least seven days before the meeting date to request additional accommodations).
