Chance of botulism is very low because of the salt (and acidity resulting from the fermentation), but yes, there should be live fermented veggies for purchase in NYC.

There are only about 200 cases per year of botulism in the US and most of it is infants (about 70% of the ~200 cases).

When fermenting foods, use water from good source (e.g. bottled water), you must boil water with salt (,sugar, spices ) first, let it cool, and then add it to cleaned, well washed vegetables or fruit. Use clean glass container. Fermenting procedure varies for different veggies / fruit. Maybe first try to buy readily available fermented foods to see if it works for you.