At 6 a.m. Thursday, puddles peppered the sidewalks of the Pedestrian Mall where, fewer than four hours earlier, students drifted home after the bars closed like the small streams of rainwater meandering toward city sewers.

Broken cups from Kum & Go, torn bar wristbands, flattened cigarette butts, and scraps of newspaper and napkins still littered the walkways.

But on College Street, Tom Kacena stood outside 3rd Base Sports Bar, 111 E. College St., in a yellow rain jacket, supervising the two-person crew who has been responsible for cleaning up downtown’s clutter for 10 years.

Kacena works for the city’s Central Business District Operations. Four other city employees clean the east and west borders of the central district.

He noted one dramatic change in his years on the job.

“The number of cigarettes has gotten worse since the city moved smoking out into the plaza,”

Kacena said, pointing to clusters of butts outside Brothers Bar & Grill, 125 S. Dubuque St. But, he said, “things are getting better.”

Because of the rain, Kacena and his crew were unable to run what he called “a giant vacuum,” used to suck up dead leaves and other garbage.

“It hurts when we can’t sweep,” he said, noting the popularity of the Ped Mall has instilled in him a sense of pride for his work.

The rain also caused problems for Leonard Piper, who helps his son, a co-owner of Atlas Restaurant, 127 Iowa Ave., with basic upkeep of the building.

“Every time it rains our sewer gets blocked with garbage, especially cardboard and plastic bags,” he said. “Plus this [alley next door] is a pretty popular place to throw up.”

But rain isn’t strictly a bad thing for the Central Business District workers.

After rainy nights, which keeps the downtown area relatively uncrowded, they can expect a shorter work day compared to most weekends and after football games, veteran crew member Kathy Septer said.

“It’s mostly wrappers and napkins from vendors,” said Septer, taking a quick break from depositing cups, cans, and other debris into a plastic pail with a reaching claw.

Kacena said working in the same position for so long has allowed him and his team to get the work down to a science.

But he said spending so much time downtown sometimes forces his work life to interfere with his personal life.

Kacena said his job prevents him from utilizing the downtown area on his free nights or weekends.

“If I see something going on I have to do something about it, because I know I’ll have to clean it up the next day.”