Last Thursday, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted against putting stone labels on the major memorials on the National Mall, reported the Associated Press. The National Park Service proposed the installation of the signs last spring in response to complaints from tourists who did not know what they were viewing, according to The Washington Post.

Some local residents and tourists from out of town agreed with the decision, citing a lack of need for the labels.

Ben Tyler, a resident of Virginia, said the CFA’s decision was a sound one.

“[The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts] should leave them the way they are and not put signs on them,” Tyler said.

Nathalie Gilly, a tourist from Belgium, said she was able to recognize the memorials without any labels since she had looked them up before she came to D.C. for a 10-day vacation, but she said putting signs on the memorials could be a good idea.

Robert Foy, an employee at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art, said the signs were unnecessary because the name of the monument is not as important as the monument itself.

“You can know what it is without knowing the effect that it has on you. But just knowing the name of something doesn’t give the impression of what it is,” he said. “You have to feel the memorial itself and feel what it is before you can understand what it is called.”

The CFA was unavailable for comment.