Levittown people: Mike Muccio

Mike Muccio, 28, Seaford
Community association: Chief of the Wantagh-Levittown Volunteer Ambulance Corps

We met Muccio at the headquarters of the ambulance corps on Wednesday night. Muccio, who, beside working with the ambulance corps is employed as a nurse, was born and raised in Levittown but moved to Seaford as an adult. He remains connected to the community where he grew up and his parents still live.

When did you join the ambulance corp and what made you join?
I’ve been here for about eight years. I was going to Stony Brook University for my bachelor’s and I wanted to join the ambulance corp there, but that’s a really busy squad and I was put on hold. There are always a lot of people that want to join there. So then one day I was sitting home and just kind of didn’t know what I wanted to do, and my mom picked up the phone and called our local headquarters and put me on the phone with the chief. I ended up talking to him for like two hours and I haven’t missed a tour since.

What made you stay in the area and keep connected with the community?
I like the area. This is where I grew up. My friends and family are here. The only reason I even moved out of Levittown was because I love the water and I wanted to live closer to it. It’s a great community to grow up in and still a great place to live.

What did you love about it as a kid?
In the summertime I lived at the pool. I could walk there, it was around the block. I went to Island Trees High School and there was always a lot of stuff to do at school. I graduated with about 150 people so everyone knew each other. I could still go back to the high school now and all the teachers would still remember me. Everything is accessible here.

How have you seen the community change?
It’s becoming a little more urban. Where the Target and the Stop & Shop are now, that used to be a field. The whole place has become a lot more built up, more than it should be maybe. It’s starting to look a little like Queens.

How much did you know about the history of Levittown when you were growing up?
I was in sixth grade for the 50th anniversary. And in fourth grade, we had a unit on local history and there were four chapters on Levittown. So, you learn about it. You know where all the old Levitts are in town.

It comes in handy here because when we’re training new members, we’ll describe a home and say, so if you respond to a Levitt, you walk into a living room and the bathroom is across from the boiler and there are two bedrooms on the side.

How would you describe the character of Levittown?
Wise. There’s a wealth of experience that this community has to offer. There are so many people who are active in different things, in Kiwanis, people in the fire department, you have all this experience there. You always have access to someone who knows better than you.