October 9: SEPTA’s refund replacement | Amazon, U.S. manufacturing | Eastern Tower breaks ground

The replacement for SEPTA’s Service Guarantee program is more than a year away, WHYY News’ Isobell Cristo reports. Passengers demanding refunds following the equipment failure and subsequent “loud bang” and self-evacuation in September were told that a replacement rewards program “will be conceptualized by the end of next year with implementation to follow sometime in 2019.” SEPTA discontinued the refund program for Regional Rail in 2016 following the Silverliner V trains fiasco.

Streets Dept checks out the latest Monument Lab installation, a dialectically tethered uprooted tree and a large excavator wrapped in reflective chrome film by artist duo Recycled Artist in Residency (RAIR). On display through November 19th in Penn Treaty Park, Plainsight Is 20/20 aims to spur discourse on Philly’a growth and prosperity through the lens of waste, recuperation, industry, and development.

Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation’s highly anticipated Eastern Tower project broke ground Friday, Melissa Romero reports. Described as “one of the most complicated projects in Philadelphia,” the $75 million, 20-story apartment, office, and commercial building will also provide the neighborhood’s first community and rec center. Anna Perng recently shared Chinatown’s struggles with public space for its growing population, begging the question: where do neighborhoods without existing parks stand in the Rebuild initiative?

ISO: public input: Chester County’s planning commission is seeking input as it begins planning the western extension of the Chester Valley Trail, CBS reports. The extension would connect the trail to the Enola Low Grade in Lancaster County, which would allow folks to go from Philadelphia to Harrisburg all on trails. Commission director Brian O’Leary says that currently “there is no obvious right of way once past Downingtown.”