If you are really concerned get her a wheel chock and for goodness
sakes, find her a parking place with a curb so that she CAN do standard
San Francisco parking!!
I assume that the car has drum brakes on the rear. If so, the parking
brakes should be very good.
How many cars do you know that you can operate for $500/year? That is less
than $1.50/day!! You'd have to have the mini cooper for HOW MANY years to
equal that (if ever???).

Have you yourself ever worked on the parking brake of her car? If not, why
do you think it is dangerous? Would you believe that cars made today have
brakes that are not as good as hers! Certainly I wasn't quite ready to give
out when I was 35+ years old!

Let's drop the paranoia and act on rational facts, not suppositions and
hasty generalizations! If the car is kept up it is indeed safe, probably
a LOT safer than most and certainly safer than the Geo Metro in which my
daughter Esther was almost killed in early 2000.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma