The good, the bad, and the ugly - bad & ugly landscaping

My daily walk through the student ghetto that surrounds our campus provides many examples of landscaping that meets the minimum municiple requirements placed upon the slumlords. One of the requirements is a sight barrier for parking areas and here's an excellent example of the bad, ugly landscaping that results. This is their 2nd try to grow a row of arborvitae here (the one on the far end alone survived the 1st planting). It would appear a 2nd one survived this time! So how many more plantings will have to be done? Probably none unless the town holds their feet to the fire. Now you can all guess what happened here. First, no thought went into the landscaping at all. Dull, dull, dull, and probably not the best choice of plant either. Second, the trees were just stuck in a hole with no attempt to tease out the tangle of pot-bound roots. Third, they put down a weed barrier & stones (so attractive - not) rather than organic mulch. Fourth, they didn't protect their investment during a hot, dry late summer by watering them. And this place is supposed to be upscale as residences go. Totally lame, what else is there to say? Next it'll be a fence because "trees just won't grow there".