Berlin’s depict landmarks like the TV Tower and Brandenberg Gates. Calgary’s show downtown skyscrapers and the Calgary Tower. Miami’s have palm trees, while Seattle’s, by local artists, feature Picasso-esque people and animals.

So why is Montreal stuck with the world’s most boring sewer caps, Projet Montréal wants to know.

The municipal opposition party is calling on the city to come up with more creative manhole covers to mark the city’s 375th anniversary.

“A city that finds beauty in small things will be sure to show a concern for beauty in big things,” city councillor Guillaume Lavoie said at a press conference outside city hall Wednesday.

The anniversary is the perfect occasion to show a bit of love to the utilitarian but ugly cast-iron lids that cover manholes across the city, Lavoie said.

Each year, the city installs 700 to 800 new manhole covers, he said.

Since each one has to be stamped with the city’s name, why not break the mould and come up with a new design, suggested Lavoie, who was accompanied by Anne-Marie Sigouin, the party’s heritage and design critic.

He proposed a design competition for sewer lids that would express Montreal’s personality better.

Lavoie denied the proposal amounts to flushing money down the drain.

Offering a design prize of a couple of thousand dollars would be just a drop in the bucket in the city’s $5-billion budget, he said.

Sigouin noted that Montreal was named the UNESCO city of design in 2006. “It’s a great occasion to show we still live up to the title,” she said.

Vancouver, Toronto, Barcelona and Seoul are among the many cities with distinctive sewer caps, Lavoie noted.

In Toyooka, Japan, the decorative sewer lids are inspired by traditional Japanese art while Kurashiki City has brightly painted fire-hydrant covers depicting cartoon firefighters.

In the former Jewish quarter of Toledo, Spain, manhole covers bear a Star of David while Riga, Latvia has attractive covers minted to celebrate that city’s 800th anniversary in 2001.

Projet Montréal will table a motion calling for a design competition at next Monday’s council meeting.