Whether I’m in Denver or Durango, I typically introduce myself by saying I work in Northern Colorado.

Not Fort Collins, not Loveland, not Greeley, nor any of the many other cities and towns that make up our region.

I don’t do this because this newspaper’s mission happens to be covering business news in Northern Colorado. I do this because at any given moment, I could be just about anywhere in the region. At a minimum, I’m on the phone or emailing people across Northern Colorado day in and day out.

Walt Elish, the head of the Northern Colorado Economic Development Corp., recently wrote that an effort is under way to foster regional collaboration in support of job creation and business development in Northern Colorado.

That’s good. Unfortunately, in pretty much the same breath, Elish put the kibosh on any hopes of a merger between the NCEDC, which focuses on Larimer County, and the organization that represents Weld County, Upstate Colorado Economic Development.

This isn’t a new notion, of course. The merger idea has been kicked around – and kicked to the curb – for years.

But in this era of scarce resources, the arguments in favor of