As of this morning access to the East Beach grassy rigging area has been blocked. My understanding is that the railway crossing ramps are to undergo renovations which, in the long term, may be a good thing. However in the short term, its a no go and experience suggests it may be several months before this ends.
The closest access to the beach is about 200 metres west by the washrooms. The boardwalk is also closed but it is possible to get by that especially on lower tides. Another possibility is going through the native reservation up by the Washington Avenue Grill but at high tide space for rigging is a bit limited there. I checked out West Beach and that may be doable although the boat launch at the extreme west end of the beach is also fenced off.
A further issue is that another bunch of parking spaces are shut down. Because of that I would guess that Marine Drive businesses will be really pushing for this to be over quickly. Fingers crossed.