RTD station in Boulder to reopen after meth contamination, without beloved Colorado market owner

Reopening is scheduled for Monday for the Regional Transportation District's Downtown Boulder Station after the lobby and restrooms of the building were closed more than a year ago following the discovery of methamphetamine residue. But all will not be back to the way it was. A small market in the corner of the lobby remains covered in dust from reconstruction and will not be opened again by its owner Giwha Cha.

"She has not been able to come in here and do anything for over a year," said her husband, Lewis Housley. "People that were regular riders, they come in, and they were expecting warm food, warm hot coffee and a friendly face. And unfortunately, that's no longer going to be there."

Housley's wife has owned the little store called Jinny's Market in the lobby for 12 years after purchasing it from its previous owner and put her children through college.

"I think if you would ask most of the people what happened to the owner of that store, it was very unfair," he said.

The RTD station's lobby was closed in January of 2023 after the discovery of meth residue in restrooms and in the station's ductwork. Over the course of 13 months, work was done on the ductwork and parts of it replaced. 

 "While illicit substance abuse is a societal issue that impacts everyone, and not solely RTD, it is the agency's overarching responsibility to provide employees and the public with clean, welcoming transit environments," said Debra A. Johnson, RTD's general manager and CEO, in a news release about the reopening.

The RTD station in Boulder is not the only public building to be affected by drug use in its bathrooms and other spots. Contamination has been found in Union Station and Front Range libraries, including in Littleton, Arvada, Colorado Springs, Englewood and Boulder. 

The duct work in the Boulder Station was either cleaned or removed and replaced. A change in the ventilation means any residue in the future will be confined to the restroom area, says RTD, simplifying cleanup. 

"Some days she got sick and she was wondering how come. But it's been solved," said Housley about his wife's long hours in the station.

Giwha Cha would often work 12 hour days at the market and then spend more hours of her week getting items to sell and taking care of business matters.

"Independent woman, entrepreneur, put her life savings into this store, and now she has nothing," Housley said.

She left abruptly when the lobby had to be closed, leaving food and equipment, which has not budged in the past year. Her insurance did not cover a hazardous materials problem.

RTD spokeswoman Pauline Haberman said in an email replying to questions about the situation with Jinny's Market, "The market was closed off by a security wall, which RTD left alone because it was someone else's property. RTD crews took swabs and were confident that area was not contaminated. The main issues were in the ductwork in the restrooms."

Haberman also wrote that RTD suspended rent payments during the time of the shutdown. Giwha Cha said she was a month-to-month renter. She says she has been told she has credit for the month rent in advance she had paid for January when the station shut down. But no other help. Her store and items are covered with dust from remodeling, and she worries what might be in the dust left behind while the work was done. She believes her loss is about $30,000 of supplies and equipment. To reopen, Housley said, might be about $15,000 for insurance and business license and machines to read credit cards and sell lottery tickets. She has decided not to return.

Cha's husband tells of the kindness she extended to people when Jinny's Market was running.

"When homeless people come by and they are hungry or something like that, sometimes she would give them some food," Housley said. "And sometimes they would come back the next day and pay for the food that they had got the day before."

She hopes for help from RTD with cleaning up, but says they have not heard back. In the meantime, unable to support herself, she applied and got another job. She is working as a cleaning person for RTD, doing work like picking up in buses.