Again I will be using the site from the City of Minneapolis. I will touch on three of the things that I am planning on revising. The first is the gaping pillars of blank that exist on both sides of the page. Second is the two "select bars." Finally I will critique the middle section of the page which is attempting to act as a news source.
The first issue, the gaping bookend pillars, is very distracting. The two blank spaces could either be filled in by stretching out everything else, or could be filled with ads or something. By stretching out the website to fill the void you would also be able to have more content above the fold, making it easier on the user.
The second issue is the select bars on the right. In total the both contain about 50 options for the user. This makes it very difficult to "grab and go" and could be layed out in a much easier way under different bars.
The last part is the distracting newsfeed that exists in the middle of the page. It is sort of confusing and leaves me wondering why it is there. It is probably some of the least important information to users on the site and is placed in one of the most important places that users look.
Wow, that is one busy web site. One thing you might think about playing with is the column format. Currently it uses a 3-column format. What about a 2-column format? You have some great ideas already for revision. I think this site will work well for the final project.