SARATOGA SPRINGS COUNCIL TO CONSIDER CHANGE IN LAW ON VENDING.(Local)

Byline: Yancey Roy Staff writer

Few people straddle the fence over the sidewalk vendors that, like migratory birds, return to the city each summer.

Peddling T-shirts, jewelry, leather goods, hot dogs and more, the hawkers feel they add life to Saratoga's social whirl of horse racing, concerts, polo matches and cotillions. Besides, they say, they're just trying to make a living.

But don't tell that to Carlos Martinez, or other small-shop keepers along Broadway and Caroline Street.

Martinez, owner of Oxum Boutique, an import store on Caroline, will pull out his accounting books and tell a different story.

"In July, I made 50 percent less than June. And …