How to Improve "Horribly Ugly" Yard + View? -- Good Questions

Pin it Q: My boyfriend and I live in an apartment building with a horribly ugly back yard complete with jagged concrete, an elevated manhole cover (read: trip hazard), dilapidated fences, and eroding pea gravel. To further compound the horror of this yard our only "view" is of the abandoned, trash-filled property next door...